


the guidance of stardust road

by whiteautumn



Series: datastorm december 2018 [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Elements of magic and fantasy, Fluffy Ending, Love Confessions, M/M, Romance, Spectre is a little shit to Ryouken and he's awesome, and wishes come true during Christmas, because it's a Christmas fic, mentioned blueghost - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2019-09-25 02:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17112629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whiteautumn/pseuds/whiteautumn
Summary: In which Yuusaku and Ryouken continuously wake up in Link VRAINS in their dreams, with only each other and a chibi-fied dragon as company.Working together to end this is going to be difficult, especially when you're dreamingwithyour crush, and the dream throws impossibly demanding tasks at the both of you.For Datastorm December: Days 01 - 02, 04 - 07.





	1. first night (yuusaku): taking flight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a... weird fic at first glance. I promise everything will make sense in the end!
> 
> Does it help that I will have both Revo/Play and Ryou/Yuu? It's gonna be really fun and I'm excited.
> 
> For Datastorm December: Day 01: freedom //

“Plans for Christmas?” Yuusaku parroted the question directed at him, watching as Takeru beamed in reply, pearl-white locks dyed a soft orange by the setting sun.

“Yeah! I know we have school, but do you have any other plans?” And Yuusaku didn’t, except maybe he should help Kusanagi-san with Café Nagi. He knew Kusanagi-san would appreciate the help, since Christmas is a popular time for couples to have dates in the square they frequently set up the truck’s business in.

“Maybe help out in Café Nagi, Kusanagi-san might get pretty busy that day.” From his duel disk, Ai chortled in laughter.

“Yuusaku-chan! You could head out and get a date, since, y’know, Christmas is a holiday for couples!”

“Shut up.”

“Tsk, tsk, Ai. That’s a tradition held only in Japan and you know it.” Flame admonished, arms crossed and shaking his head. Ai merely gestured towards Flame in return, reaching out to pull one of his eyelids down. Yuusaku suspected that if the A.I. had a tongue in his smaller form, he would’ve stuck that out at his fellow Ignis as well.

Takeru smiled exasperatedly at the two A.I.s, before turning his attention back to Yuusaku.

“That sounds tough,” Yuusaku shrugged, turning towards the calm surface of the ocean along Stardust Road. Café Nagi’s popularity and the place’s natural beauty meant that setting up here got them a fair bit of business. When it was quiet, however, he and Takeru could discuss their plan for how to deal with Lightning and Hanoi in a relaxing place.

His looked away from the ocean and towards the abandoned mansion at the top of the hill, feeling a tight feeling snatch him in the chest.

“What about you? Any plans?” Forcefully directing his attention away and pushing the image of a white-haired male out of his mind, he noted Takeru looked a little embarrassed at his question. 

“Eh, ah, well… I’m supposed to spend the evening video-calling Kiku and grandmother, so I was saying that if you wanted to head to Link VRAINS with Blue Maiden and Aqua that day, I wouldn’t be able to make it.” The other looked apologetic at having to leave Yuusaku – and Zaizen, but Yuusaku was sure that she was going to spend the day with her brother as much as possible, so the chances of Blue Maiden showing up was low – to continue their work alone.

Yuusaku shrugged, not bothered by the fact that he has to spend another Christmas alone. It’s what's normal for him. His parents had disappeared during the incident, and it wasn’t like Christmas was a huge thing beyond a marketing gimmick in the country anyway. He’s worked alone before. Covering for Soulburner and Blue Maiden would be easy for Playmaker should the need arise.

“Ehhhhh! Does this mean I’m stuck with grumpy Playmaker-sama and working either way? On Christmas?”

“You’re more than welcome to follow Takeru and Flame.” Ai deflated like a balloon on Yuusaku’s duel disk.

“I could use the extra help over Christmas,” Kusanagi-san voiced his input and Yuusaku nodded an affirmative in reply, ignoring the way Ai groaned.

He stubbornly ignored the equally persistent ache in his chest as his eyes roved over the evening sun setting across the horizon, its shades of rosy pink and soft tangerine and camellia red, back towards the lone white house.

Revolver was now an internationally wanted cyber-terrorist for the Tower of Hanoi incident and Taki Kyoko’s jailbreak – even if governments didn’t know who was behind the avatar, he was sure SOL had an idea that only Kougami Kiyoshi’s son could’ve commandeered the other three scientists who were similarly responsible for the Lost Incident and launch a crusade against the Ignis and their company.

That meant Ryouken couldn’t return as well, and he has to spend Christmas out floating on the sea. 

Yuusaku closed his eyes, feeling a sense of unexplainable melancholy well up in him, alongside a small amount of vindictiveness.

_Serves you right._

_“You could head out and get a date, since, y’know, Christmas is a holiday for couples!”_

But, if he had to get a “date” for Christmas, Yuusaku was sure that he’d pick Ryouken without a second doubt.

Before the Tower of Hanoi, before he’d started this crusade, before he’d known that Revolver and The Voice were the same person, Yuusaku had dared to allow himself to dream of possibilities after he’d found the person behind his encouragement. Yuusaku would’ve wanted them to stay, for them to become good friends and perhaps maybe more (he understood that love is something that you can never force, he might be slow emotionally but he’s not stupid) and he would’ve wanted them to spend every holiday together, regardless of what they had ended up as.

Now… Well, he still wants those things, if he were to be brutally honest with himself. However, Ryouken didn’t return his feelings – Yuusaku understood that probably as well as he understood his own name.

(He’s spent the past few months since Ryouken’s departure telling himself that it’s okay. And ignoring the feeling telling him that _no, it isn’t_.)

It would be great, he mused, looking out at the calm waters, if he could spend the holiday with Ryouken.

He was not wishing for it.

… Maybe he was. To whoever who would listen.

“Yuusaku,” The sound of Kusanagi-san calling him snapped him out of his stupor. Tensing, he blinked and looked up, only to see Takeru folding up the portable chair that he’d been sitting in. The other smiled in understanding and explained patiently, apparently too used to Yuusaku’s zoning out to be bothered.

“We’re leaving, Kusanagi-san’s done for the day.” Nodding, he stood up and started to fold his chair in as well, ignoring Ai’s knowing look until –

“Yuusaku-chan, were you daydreaming of someone?”

He hit the mute button on his duel disk in reply, shrugging when Takeru and Flame looked at him in curiosity.

The sense of wishing and wanting to spend Christmas with Ryouken remained, however, and Yuusaku scowled his way back into the truck and back to downtown Den City.

It was a silly thing to think about – he’s not six anymore. Santa didn’t exist, and there was no one who could fulfil his wish – including himself, considering Ryouken’s made it clear that they were on opposite sides – so having this as a wish was childish, counterproductive and a waste of his time and cognitive processes.

Whether Stardust Road glowed its signature luminescent blue that night, Yuusaku didn't know, nor did he want to care.

 

* * *

 

Yuusaku stirred when he felt something hard prodding lightly at his face, followed by a soft growl. He groaned in reply – not remembering when he’d fallen asleep except that he had – before lifting his heavy eyelids, blurry surroundings coming into focus.

There was something in front of him – probably the same thing that had woken him with its… muzzle? Wincing, he squinted at it – there was something seriously wrong if he’s taking this long to refocus his vision – there was something oddly familiar about the dark blue body, lined with neon blue and silver metallic finishes. Not to mention that circular-like attachment to its head.

Slowly, as his vision began to clear up, so does his thought processes. 

“Fire…wall?” The creature gave a happy growl in reply, and Yuusaku stared.

Floating in front of him and nuzzling him, was Firewall Dragon. Except, this Firewall Dragon was no bigger than the length of his arm, probably just a little larger than Ai and Flame.

“What are you… What am I doing here?” He blinked, before looking down and realising that he was clad in Playmaker’s standard dark green suit, the sharp yellow line going down his torso. From the corner of his eye, he spies Playmaker’s signature yellow and red tresses.

“Is this Link VRAINS?” He asked the miniature version of his ace monster, fiddling around with his duel disk – Ai-free, he noted, which explains why everything’s so quiet – and bringing up the menu.

Firewall made a noise that Yuusaku couldn’t decode, he frowned before looking down at the menu. The logout option had been disabled, and the buttons for communication and his D-Boards had disappeared.

“Do you know where Ai is?” Again, Firewall replied with the same noise, flashing red for a moment before returning to its default blue colour. 

Yuusaku took both answers to be negatives, before taking the time to collect himself. There were three points awfully wrong in this picture. One, he doesn’t remember logging into Link VRAINS – does that mean this is a forced login? Two, Ai is missing, which is extremely worrying. Three, he can’t log out, so whoever’s brought him here and taken Ai wants to keep him here.

A cheerful chirrup in his ears reminded him that there was a fourth anomaly in this situation – the chibi-sized Firewall Dragon. However, Yuusaku knew instinctively that Firewall Dragon was an ally and not a threat. There was nothing but sheer joy coming from the small dragon, and it seemed that being stuck in a smaller body did not seem to bother the duel monster any.

Yuusaku could figure out his monster’s… situation after he figured out his own. Sighing, he pushed himself up and looked around.

He was in an area of Link VRAINS that he’d vaguely remember visiting during the beginning of his cause against the Knights of Hanoi, an area that was the remnants of a Rome-influenced colosseum – that SOL has since modified to become a floating colosseum instead since the advent of D-Boards – not in his default spawn point that was just outside the main area of Link VRAINS that would’ve made it difficult to track him.

Was this SOL’s doing? Or perhaps it’s Lightning’s. A sense of dread filled him because either way, Ai was in big danger and he was suspended in this debris-filled area without a way to get down.

“Do you have any idea how to get out of here?” He turned to Firewall, who nodded and flapped its wings in reply, before taking off towards one of the borders of the floating island. Yuusaku hesitated for a moment, before manoeuvring over a huge chunk of debris after the small dragon. 

The whole situation did not add up. For someone to initiate a forced login (or even to prevent logouts), they would’ve had to be in Yuusaku’s duel disk system way before. However, he hadn’t detected any form of breach – nor had Ai, although his Ignis was noisy and an outlier, Ai wasn’t incompetent – nor had there been anyone who had touched his duel disk in the past week that wasn’t Kusanagi-san or himself.

A timed activation, perhaps? The only people whom he’d accepted programs from were Ghost Girl and Revolver, and neither were the kind to pull an underhanded trick to get to Ai like this.

Lightning seemed to be the type to gloat in your face, and underhanded tactics were unlike him. That left Yuusaku with SOL, which, given what he knew about the corrupted corporation, seemed more likely by the second.

He bit his lip at the thought of Ai getting dismantled, remembering Spectre’s pain, forcing his eyes shut and clutching his hands into fists.

No, there was no way he was going to let SOL was going to do that to Ai. Not to Flame nor to Aqua. Or even Lightning or Windy.

If SOL was behind this, and had indeed taken Ai, Yuusaku was going to make sure he stopped them and got Ai back.

Feeling the rush of wind in his face, he opened his eyes slowly to find that Firewall has led them to an area at the edge of the floating island. From his position, he could see the main area of Link VRAINS down below, view misted by the occasional cloud floating by. The sound of the gale was clear to him, similar to the premonition of a coming data storm.

“Firewall,” The dragon turned to look questioningly at him, “I can’t get down this way.” Not without his D-Board at least – and that had been disabled so there was no way to access it at the moment. He frowned, looking back down, biting back the frustration and the feeling of being trapped – he might be working against a clock and he doesn’t know how long he has left, and there was no way off this place –

A loud sound ripped from Firewall, and Yuusaku startled, turning his attention towards his temporary companion.

The Cyberse monster was glowing, and he watched, entranced, as a sphere of light engulfed the small dragon and grew in size, before shattering into a million pieces of bright stars, blown away by the strong currents that surrounded them.

There were few things that could render Yuusaku absolutely speechless. However, looking at Firewall Dragon in its full-grown glory in front of him, he thinks this is one of those times.

Firewall let out another growl – deeper this time – leaning down to nuzzle Yuusaku, who sighed in relief and contentment at the feeling, reaching up to pat it on the head.

“You didn’t say you could do this.” The majestic Cyberse monster flapped its wings in reply, before it began its descent onto the floor, feet stable on the ground and wings folded closely together and its body bent slightly. Reaching out with a claw, it nudged its master towards its back.

“You want me to… climb on?” Yuusaku has never tried riding a Duel Monster. He’s seen Knights of Hanoi do it, he’s seen Revolver do it, and he’s heard of Action Duels from Maiami City, but he’s never tried it himself.

Firewall gave a cheery rumble.

Reaching out to grasp at the edge of Firewall’s steely wings, Yuusaku brought a leg up to rest on Firewall’s folded leg, before using the push as the momentum needed to climb up Firewall’s back. His dragon felt cool to the touch, which isn’t surprising, considering it’s a metallic-bodied Cyberse. The dragon shuddered and rumbled in satisfaction as Yuusaku continued to caress it with wonder in his every touch. Firewall’s body didn’t feel deadly cold and metallic, there was a spark of life under his fingertips, humming in synchrony with Yuusaku’s heartbeat.

A spark that was growing alongside Yuusaku’s determination and strength. Firewall could take him off this island, take him towards Ai and the person who’d taken Ai.

Playmaker could seize the wind once more.

Taking in a deep breath and enjoying the clean smell of the ozone brought along with it, Yuusaku tightened his grip on Firewall, who’d expanded its wing in reply, ready to take off at Yuusaku’s command.

“Let’s go, Firewall!”

With a roar, the dragon pushed off the debris-filled land and into the skies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yuusaku is understandably very paranoid and thinks the worst of every situation. Wait till you see Ryouken's reaction to this. Hah. (He appears in the next one immediately to make up for the fact that the only times he's appeared in this is during Yuusaku's wallowing and pining. Oops.)
> 
> There is a super high chance I might not finish this before Christmas (who am I kidding I'm not gonna finish this before Christmas) as I'll be busy from the 24 to the 26th (and I have to go Christmas shopping tomorrow ummmm). My original plan was to do 2 chapters a day (one for Yuusaku, another for Ryouken) so I'll be done on Christmas itself (East Coast Time) but given the current situation.
> 
> I'll try my best, I promise. Either way, I'll get this done before the year ends.
> 
> If you're wondering about Day 3, look at the other fic in this series :P
> 
> Kudos and comments greatly appreciated! Would love it if someone could point out errors as well because I proof-read after I post (it's easier to spot them on Ao3 than on word OTL).
> 
> Also! I'm @ruby_kyun on twitter if anyone wants to talk about datastorm or anything :D


	2. first night (ryouken): pandemonium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The moment Ryouken felt his consciousness return, he knew something was wrong. 
> 
> What followed was equally confusing and frustrating - and he's not even counting that he has to kiss Playmaker because of a damn plant.
> 
> For Datastorm December: Day 02: // mistletoe kiss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clarify: Since this chapter is in Ryouken's PoV, he'll refer to himself mostly as Ryouken (although he's in his Revolver avatar) and Yuusaku as Playmaker (since it's Playmaker standing in front of him right now). 
> 
> Playmaker calls him Revolver since he's never called him Ryouken out loud in canon *makes shifty eyes at writers* + he thinks they're in LV so it's only right to refer to other people by their avatar. 
> 
> This chapter is way too long long I can't finish this fic before Christmas if everything's gonna be this long (cries).

The moment Ryouken felt his consciousness return, he knew something was wrong. Frowning, he examined the area that he’d woken up in – an area that was in Link VRAINS, it seemed, the scenery in front of him reminiscent of European influences with dim lights illuminating small rock pavements under the slowly dying daylight, low shop-houses made of brick, and the signature hum of the cyber world unmistakable. Only one thing. 

He doesn’t remember logging onto the virtual system at all.

_This is a problem._

A huge one, in fact. As a cyber-terrorist targeting Link VRAINS and going against SOL, forced logins into the enemy’s field of influence were detrimental. Furthermore, the Knights of Hanoi had always made sure that their default spawn points were in areas out of SOL’s monitoring. Being forced to login and spawning in an area that was within SOL’s control was a blaring sign that something had gone wrong.

Looking down, he examined his virtual avatar next, finding nothing amiss. His helmet was secure, his body cloaked in the red-and-white body suit highlighted in green. Turning to examine his reflection in an aged window pane, everything looked as it should; his grey hair, highlighted with red at the side, as well as his lavender-coloured eyes – all darkened from the glass dirtied with layers of dust. Whoever messed with his spawn point hadn’t touched his avatar coding at least, but the fact that someone was able to bypass his security remained a huge worry.

Frown deepening, he reached for his duel disk, bringing up the options menu, before freezing. Where his navigation menu and logout button had previously been was a slate of blankness, as if the buttons had never existed at all. His deck was still accessible, but everything else was gone.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath – it didn’t matter that he technically didn’t need to do this in Link VRAINS, but it was the action and the illusion of it that mattered to his brain – he slowly listed all the problems that were pressing issues.

One, he’d spawned inside Link VRAINS, an area where SOL Technology could track him. Two, he couldn’t log out or communicate with anyone else for aid. Three, whoever’d done this had to have bypassed his security, which meant that there is a breach in Hanoi’s security.

Was it the Ignis of Light, or SOL? Scowling, Ryouken considered his options. The Ignis was more manageable alone; however, had the A.I. messed with his algorithm and duel disk program, Ryouken would have caught it. SOL was a bit trickier to deal with on his own, and the fact that he’d been brought to an area of Link VRAINS instead of a pocket network meant that it was more likely that SOL was responsible for this mess.

Feeling his scowl turn into a smirk, well, two could play at this game. It didn’t matter if SOL’s trapped him here, he’ll find a way to contact Spectre and the others and get out eventually.

However, the lack of assailants accompanying this forced login was concerning. It was as if SOL’s brought him here just to keep him here. Limiting his movements by trapping him in an area is a good move, he supposed. Since the collapse of the Tower of Hanoi, the Knights have lost their advantage in terms of numbers, and while Ryouken was entirely fine with that – the lower-level members had been his father’s idea, and Ryouken had never been keen on them being part of their cause anyway – it also meant that Revolver’s now the main firepower of the group.   

 _SOL’s learning at least_ , he mused, grimacing and looking around, before realising that something else was amiss.

There was no one around. Ryouken’s trapped, in a desolated area of Link VRAINS that had been programmed pleasantly – with the homely charm of the medieval ages, an accompanying relaxing scent of honey and spices and the beckoning clusters of lights signifying the existence of life in the far distance – it’s almost mocking.

Well, there’s no use in remaining here. 

He had only taken a few steps before a very familiar cry reached his years from a distance. The tell-tale sound of one of the Cyberse dragons unmistakable, Ryouken turned sharply on his heels and looked up into the skies, spotting a familiar silhouette coming towards him, body painted in shades of dark blue and polished silver with its trademark circular attachment to its head.

It was Firewall Dragon.

That meant Playmaker was here.

There was something hypnotising about watching Playmaker soar towards him on his dragon against the dimming night skies, red and yellow tresses dancing in the wind and the lights from the lampposts – having turned themselves on fully in response to the change in daylight – illuminating his fair skin and reflecting off his emerald green-eyes.

The eyes that widened upon spotting Ryouken standing at his destination, revealing their owner’s sense of relief and small specks of joy.

He folded his arms to squash the part of him that had become oddly alive into silence and pretended that his increased heartbeat and the blood in his ears were just products of having Firewall Dragon coming so close to him. A small part of him took that image and hid it within the depths of his mind – he’ll most likely see them again one day in his dreams as Ryouken, but right now, Revolver had to remain steadfast. 

They were in Link VRAINS, after all. SOL’s potentially monitoring aside, Ryouken didn’t want to invite anymore misconceptions from Yuu – _Playmaker_.

Firewall let out a loud screech as it slowed down and made its descent, and Ryouken watched as Playmaker hopped down from the dragon and made his way to him with wide eyes, red and yellow hair slightly tussled from the flight.

“Revolver.”

“Playmaker.” His adversary was frowning, and Ryouken noticed something.

“The annoying Ignis isn’t with you?” Playmaker’s expression shifted into one of worry and hesitation. He took a long, assessing look at Ryouken, who merely raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know where Ai is, I woke up in Link VRAINS and he wasn’t around.” Playmaker admitted slowly, and Ryouken felt his insides freeze.

“Were you forced to log in too?” Green eyes looked at him in confusion, morphing into one of alarmed understanding.

“Does that mean you –” A scowl from Ryouken confirmed Playmaker’s unfinished query, and the younger faltered.

“I think SOL has Ai.” He raised an eyebrow and prompted Playmaker to continue. 

“Three reasons. One, Lightning doesn’t seem to be the type to pull such an underhanded tactic. Two, SOL has used underhanded tactics multiple times.” Earth’s incident fresh in their minds, and Ryouken knew first-hand just how corrupted SOL could be, “Three, we are in Link VRAINS, which is in SOL’s control.”  

“Mm,” Ryouken concurred, looking up at Firewall Dragon, who had been waiting at the side patiently – surprisingly quietly, but he supposed that was to be expected since it’s technically not a Dragon; Cracking Dragon used to get angry whenever someone made them wait – for them to finish their conversation. Playmaker jerked at the reminder and turned towards Firewall Dragon, before faltering.

“Uh, it was beside me the moment I woke. On one of those floating islands of Link VRAINS.” So that’s where Playmaker had spawned, Ryouken assumed that was not his default spawn point as well. “I couldn’t get off the island any other way.” So, Playmaker’s D-Board functions had been disabled as well, that meant…

“You can’t log out either?” The shorter male shook his head, and Ryouken could tell that he was concerned.

Apparently, he wasn’t the only person to be able to do so because Firewall Dragon had dipped its head down the knock Playmaker on his cheek lightly, drawing a small smile out of the boy. Ryouken caught the ends of his lips tipping up into a smile, before forcing his avatar back into a neutral expression – bless the ability to control emotes of avatars – clearing his throat and drawing the attention of both monster and master.

“Given the current situation, it’s best that we move together.” Safety in numbers, of course, and the fact that Playmaker is a valuable ally to have is a bonus. He squashed the warm feeling welling up in him upon seeing Playmaker’s lips shape into a slight smile, a brightness entering his eyes.

There was just one problem, however.

“That Cyberse draws way too much attention, is there anything you can do about it?” Before Playmaker could speak, Firewall Dragon snarled at him in reply, before giving its master one last muzzle and pulling back to its full height, slowly beginning to glow at its edges. 

The glow evolved into a crystal sphere of light. Wincing, both of them reached up to shield their eyes from the sudden onslaught of brightness, and Ryouken watched with a grimace that turned into amazement when the sphere started to shrink, and the light shatters into fragments to reveal a small Firewall Dragon.

Small, as in miniaturised.

He blinked and stared as Firewall propelled itself into Playmaker’s waiting arms and settled itself snugly into the younger boy’s embrace. 

“Is this better?” Playmaker asked, voice flat as usual. Firewall echoed its master’s words with a higher pitched noise, small red eyes looking at him.

Ryouken made a noise at the back of his throat.

It came out as an affirmative (thank you, avatar modifications).

 

* * *

 

There were few things that could make Kougami Ryouken uncomfortable.

One of which, however, as Kougami Ryouken had come to learn, is walking in silence with Playmaker and his… miniature dragon as Revolver.

Therefore, when the trio had finally neared their destination, a town centre bustling with life and activity, Ryouken had mentally heaved a sigh of relief. While speaking to Fujiki Yuusaku as Kougami Ryouken wasn’t easy given their complicated past, there was a certain amount of expectation that Ryouken didn’t have to uphold in real life as compared to the responsibility that he has to carry as Revolver.

As Revolver, his avatar and identity represented Kougami Ryouken’s determination to eliminate the Ignis and preserve humanity. Revolver was more than an avatar of some common user in Link VRAINS, he was the leader of the Knights of Hanoi, the symbol of everything that had gone wrong in their pasts, and a reminder of what needs to be done.

This also meant that Ryouken has to sit back and stop himself from falling further just by being in the presence of Yuusaku – _Playmaker_. There were certain lines that he cannot cross, no matter how much he wanted to. 

_Not yet, at least. Perhaps when this is all over…_

“Ah. We’re here.” Blinking out of his thoughts at Playmaker’s voice, Ryouken took a moment to notice that yes, they were indeed at the town centre.

It was moderate in size, with shops open and bustling with business on both sides of the wide road paved by dark-coloured stones, lit up by soft lights coming from the same lampposts that were in the area they had been in previously. The only difference with these lampposts is that they had different Christmas decorations attached to them – some of them had mistletoes, others had lights and ornaments adorning the aged metal poles.

At the end of the pavement was a large Christmas tree, wrapped in tinsels of emerald green and ice-blue and decorated with ornaments of crystal snowflakes. A greyish blue light orb adorned the top of the tree in the place of the traditional Star of Bethlehem – weird choice, but Ryouken’s never the one for Christmas décor so he wouldn’t judge.

“Stardust Town… That’s… original.” Playmaker remarked, craning his neck to look at the sign that loomed over them at the entrance to the centre. Revolver looked up, face scrunching up and eyes narrowing at the tiny bulbs of lights lining the dark wooden board. The letters were carved in, and the sign would’ve looked dilapidated if it weren’t for the lack of day light and the new life breathed into it by the addition of the light bulbs.

“Agreed. But SOL’s never been good with coming up with new things.” A good majority of Link VRAINS was based on real life locations rather than anything vaguely beyond one’s imagination. It’s one of the reasons why Ryouken hated the server that much – ultimately, it’s nothing but full of fake and dead replicas that can never hold their own to the real things.

Playmaker merely sounded his agreement, voice small and thoughtful. Hesitating before turning to him.

“Should we go in?” Ryouken hesitated. He still hadn’t figure out what SOL’s goal was. While this was the only area in miles – there was literally no other area for them to explore without doing something to the folds of the network itself, but since neither of them hacked their way in – there was something disconcerting about knowingly walking into something that could more than likely be a trap set by SOL, especially when it seemed harmless.

There’s been no enemies to come for them thus far, and no attempts to introduce viruses to them either.

Seeing no other choice, Revolver nodded his agreement. The dragon in Playmaker’s arms trilled in joy, and Playmaker shot it an odd look as they crossed under the sign.

“Hello! Welcome to Stardust Town!” They paused in unison, eyes wide, and Firewall made a cooing sound at the new arrival that had greeted them. A boy of no older than twelve with light green eyes and hair. He was dressed in a white shirt, black shorts folded slightly to expose the white underside, mint green suspenders and a black and grass-green hood to finish the look. In his right hand, there was a rather short staff, decorated with a shining emerald gem.

He recognised this monster, but it was Playmaker who spoke out first.

“Cyberse Wicckid…” Indeed, it’s one of his temporary companion’s blasphemous Cyberse-types.

“Master Playmaker, Revolver.” Wicckid acknowledged them with a nod each and winced when Firewall pushed out of Playmaker’s arms to peck – like a bird, he noted – on the boy’s arm, “Ouch, hello to you too, Firewall.”

Playmaker continued to gape – or Ryouken assumed he was doing that, since his eyes were still wide, and his mouth slightly open as he stared at his duel monsters that were apparently very real and sentient in front of him. Ryouken couldn’t blame him, the entire scenario feels surreal to his person – probably because on a certain level, everything in the virtual world is that way – and he’s having a difficult time correlating this programme’s intelligence with SOL’s level of A.I. knowledge.

For all purposes, Cyberse Wicckid seemed entirely sentient, just like the other residents of that accursed world. As far as he knew, SOL had no way to create beings of this level of intelligence – Ryouken himself had made sure that the data on the Ignis’ creation were destroyed, and whatever Hanoi had needed to work with was kept securely in their database.

A database that could’ve been hacked, for Ryouken’s presence in the virtual world represented a loophole in their system. One that SOL could’ve taken advantage of.

There’s no way for them to create this pocket network in such a short amount of time, however. Nothing is making sense. Avatar overlaid with images of the Cyberse monsters, perhaps?

Cyberse Wicckid coughed sheepishly, having managed to finally end Firewall’s childish assault on him.

“We’ve been waiting for you.” He glared and Wicckid shrank back, raising his hands in a placating gesture. “Wait! At least hear me out before you do anything rash, please!” He waved his hands about in a frenzy. Playmaker seemed to have snapped out of his stupor at that, reaching out to place his hand on Revolver’s bicep, “Revolver, I think we should listen to them.” 

“Really? And you’re sure this isn’t one of SOL’s traps?” Playmaker faltered, before assembling himself.

“I’m sure. Everything here screams Cyberse rather than SOL, and my Link Sense has never led me wrong.” Ryouken paused and reeled in his glare, still not letting his guard fully down around the Cyberse monster. He might trust Playmaker to a certain extent, but that certainly did not involve trusting his monsters as well.

“By now I’m sure you’ve both noticed that you can’t log out.” Wicckid observed, frowning in concern. “And this… world… will not let you do so until you’ve proven yourselves worthy. I think.”

“You think?” Playmaker repeated before Revolver could say something scathing, hand still on his bicep – he tried very hard not to focus on the light touch, distracting as it is. Wicckid sighed, head drooping.

“That was what I’d been told.” Wicckid reached out to pat the miniature Firewall on the head. “Just like Firewall here, some of the Cyberse monsters had left town recently, and they’ve disappeared. You will have to find and save both of your monsters since they’re the only ones who can lead you out of this world. And you’re the ones who can save them, so you can’t leave until you’ve found them - ” Wicckid groaned at the circular logic – to be fair, it was giving Ryouken a headache as well, the annoyance of all this.

“Told by who? So, we’ll have to find them, and once we’ve found them all, we can get out of here? What about Ai? Is he all right?” Playmaker has to be really shaken up, since he’s never seen the younger boy throw out so many questions in one go.

“Uh, to be honest, I don’t know.” Like _that_ wasn’t suspicious, “Yes, that’s the gist of it.” Wicckid raised his head and pouted, eyes rolling up slightly and tapping his fingers against his chin, like he was considering if he’d forgotten something. Breaking out into a smile that showed that he hadn’t forgotten anything important – Ryouken didn’t trust the monster much at this point not to have forgotten anything - Wicckid addressed Playmaker’s next question.

“Don’t worry about Ai! He’s perfectly fine, so are the other Ignis’s. I promise.” His face fell, “Oh, except for Earth. We miss him a lot.” Shaking his head, Wicckid continued in a way that reminded Ryouken of a child who was reciting something important that his parents had forced him to rehearse a thousand times.

“The ones who’d gone missing recently are Linkuriboh, two of the Topologic triplets, uh, I think Bomber Dragon and Trisbaena?” Ryouken jerked at the mention of his Cyberse monsters, “…And older sister…” At the mention of the last monster, the green-haired child visibly shrank back, and Firewall cooed in comfort. 

“Older sister?”

“He means Cyberse Witch,” Playmaker replied for the distraught Cyberse – Ryouken was still reeling from the revelation that their monsters had _familial relations_. 

“It would be great if she could return home for Christmas.” Wicckid sighed, “But we’ll all be grateful if you could find them for us at all!” Playmaker wavered, before reaching down to pat awkwardly at the child’s head – as if he was unused to such a gesture but wanted to try anyway. 

“We’ll do it, don’t worry, we’ll get her back in time for Christmas, I promise.”

The whole situation was getting more and more ridiculous by the moment, and Ryouken was seriously questioning his sanity – Playmaker’s too – at the fact that he was planning to agree to this.

Seeing no other options, however, he sighed.

“Yeah, we’ll do that.” Wicckid beamed at him in thanks, and Playmaker turned to look at him with a slight lift of his lips and a soft look in his eyes that made him look more like Fujiki Yuusaku rather than the fierce hero of Link VRAINS, and Ryouken had to turn away so that none of the blush he was feeling would show – Revolver’s inability to blush aside, it was the feeling of being seen through that mattered. 

“Firewall will be your guide! He’ll be able to find the locations of the other monsters for you, good luck!” With that, the child hopped again and disappeared in a flash of green light. 

There was a moment of silence, before Playmaker spoke up.

“We should start heading in the direction of the first monst – Firewall!” The dragon was already taking off towards the centre of the area, and Playmaker ran after it. Ryouken took off in the direction of his adversary after a moment of hesitation, ignoring the surprised looks from patrons as he went. 

_What have you gotten me into, Fujiki Yuusaku?_

Surprisingly, Firewall didn’t go far, stopping at the Christmas tree parked in the centre of the busy area, Playmaker blinked in surprise and looked at Ryouken, who resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“That was surprisingly easy.” Playmaker shot him a look, before looking up at Firewall, who was making circles around the weird-coloured orb at the top of the Christmas tree.

“I thought Wicckid said the monsters had all _left_ town?” Firewall howled in response to Playmaker’s question, and Ryouken watched as the dark green-clad male paused, before reaching out to touch the surface of the Christmas tree.

The moment his hand made contact with the leaves, the orb decoration at the top began to glow, much like how Firewall had done so earlier, before the layer of light that had covered the orb began to shift into a shape that seemed familiar.

“Linkuriboh!” The thin layer of white shattered in a familiar manner, but instead of dissipating into thin air in a flourish of sparkles, they fell onto the both of them in the form of snowflakes, covering him – both of them, he noted Playmaker was glowing as well – in a soft silvery glow.

There was something oddly comforting about the lights that nagged at his mind, and Ryouken felt like he knows its glow intimately despite not being able to draw any connections at the moment.

The lights illuminating the edges of their avatar began to expand, melding into each other and forming a sphere-like structure that encased the two of them. Playmaker let out a soft noise of surprise and winced when something spawned above them.

It was a mistletoe, its sharp shapely leaves and red berries mocking him. Ryouken closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, suppressing his urge to scream in frustration at the situation that was growing increasingly ridiculous by the second.

Judging by Playmaker’s grimace, it seemed that the other was not having a nice time either.

“Kuri!!!”

The now-freed Linkuriboh floated down the tree, pressing it’s face to the surface of the sphere and whining when it wasn’t allowed entry. Firewall followed its example, and let out a low growl, proceeding to whack at it with its tail.

Green eyes narrowed in pain, and Playmaker hissed. “Firewall, please stop that. It’s making my head hurt.” Ryouken concurred with him silently for a different reason. Playmaker’s Link Sense must be going haywire right now, if everything here is connected to the Cyberse in some manner. Meanwhile, the fact that they’re trapped within a ball of light with a mistletoe hanging between them isn’t making Ryouken feel any better.

“Cyberse Wicckid didn’t mention this.” Playmaker closed his eyes in agreement, right hand reaching up to grasp tightly at his left arm.

A card then spawned between them, and he reached out to examine it, reading out the message printed in neat typography.

 _“Master Playmaker, Revolver:_

_I forgot to mention, there are certain tasks that you have to complete before you can collect the monsters properly. I don’t know what they are, but I’m sure both of you can figure it out! Master Playmaker’s smart, and although Revolver’s a jerk, he’s pretty good at what he does. The two of you will definitely have no problems._

_Cyberse Wicckid.”_

“That little…”

Playmaker gave out a chortle, eyes focusing on the offending plant hanging between them, giving Revolver a brief glance, and looking down. It was a behaviour more characteristic of Yuusaku rather than Playmaker, a shadow of the child from ten years back that elicited a thirst in Ryouken.

The sphere was not going to give way to physical force, so there was only one logical way for them to free themselves.

Ryouken was going to destroy whoever’s put them in this situation, perhaps after he’s thanked them.

“Playmaker,” Lowering his voice to a whisper, he leaned forward, enjoying the way the younger boy jumped and looked up, eyes wide like a cornered rabbit staring at a hungry wolf.

“Re – Revolver?” Ryouken felt a smirk starting to form on his face, enjoying the way Playmaker took a step back, flustered – if Playmaker could blush, he was sure he would be red in the face now.

“There’s only one logical thing to do to get out right now, wouldn’t you say?” He teased. Playmaker hesitated again, before finding his resolution, taking a deep breath and nodding. All jokes aside, Ryouken supposed he was serious that there was only one possible way out of this situation. He wasn’t sure if he should be happy that he gets to kiss Playmaker or angry that he had to be forced to do so under these circumstances. 

“…Just, kiss me already.” The petulant voice was something Ryouken was unfamiliar with – from both Playmaker and Yuusaku – but he decided he didn’t mind being commanded like this, the resulting feelings of smugness and satisfaction were both delightful to experience.

“As you wish, then,” He reached up gently to grasp at the other’s chin, tilting Playmaker’s face upwards just as he sees Playmaker’s eyelids fall shut, hiding those beautiful viridian-coloured eyes from view.

It was a light kiss, lips pressing against each other’s for the briefest of seconds before Ryouken pulled himself away, savouring the delicately sweet taste of Playmaker. The sphere surrounding them glowed once again and shattered, its pieces finally disappearing in the form of sparkles for good. He noted briefly that the accursed plant had dissolved as well.

“Kuri! Kurikurikuri!!” Linkuriboh and Firewall launched themselves into Playmaker’s arms the moment Ryouken drew away from him, the younger boy greeting them in a flat voice, refusing to look at him.  

Upon contact with its master, however, Linkuriboh let out another joyous trill before disappearing in a flash of data characteristic of Cyberse-type monsters, returning to Playmaker’s duel disk.

And then Playmaker himself started to disappear, like a mist fading into the darkness of the night, much to Ryouken’s alarm. The person in question didn't seem to notice, focusing on patting Firewall's head.

“Playmaker!” That got the green-clad boy’s attention, and his eyes widened when they landed on Revolver’s form.

“Revolver!” His panicked tone made Ryouken look down and realise that he was disappearing as well. He could now see the stone pavement through his gloved hands. Looking up to call out for Playmaker again, the younger boy had already disappeared, Firewall was gone, and his surroundings started spinning a myriad of dark blue skies and soft embers.

A flash of light, and all he knew was darkness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't a thriller. Promise. 
> 
> Halfway through this chapter, I felt like my Ryouken was channeling Kaiba too much (probably cause of all the things I've read about Jump Festa this year - Revolver lost his scripted duel to Jack tsk tsk) and I had to pull him back in forcefully. 
> 
> Firewall and Wicckid don't like Ryouken all that much because he'd attacked their world, and destroyed the cards of their companions. Ryouken doesn't like them either, so it's fine. LMAO. 
> 
> The two topologic dragons, hmm. Well, you'd just have to see. 
> 
> Word of advice: Don't make Wicckid relay instructions for you. He leaves things out and frustrate cyber-terrorists. 
> 
> I might re-write chapter one again when I have the time, there's something really wrong about Takeru and Yuusaku's part that's been bothering me. But I want to strike while the iron's hot and finish writing everything else first. We'll see if I do get to revise chapter one... one day.
> 
> Comments and Kudos greatly appreciated!


	3. (ch 2.5) first day (yuusaku ft. ryouken)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “… I have a suggestion.” He looked up, and there Ryouken was, with a conflicted frown on his face, ice-blue eyes staring straight into his own. For a moment, he thought he could see stars and galaxies beyond. 
> 
> Yuusaku’s breath hitches, and he waits patiently.
> 
> For day 4: first winter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the prolonged absence! I got pretty busy with moving places - at least this is the last one for a while - so I couldn't finish it for Christmas. 
> 
> I'm still going to continue this though, no worries. 
> 
> To clear up something, timeline-wise, this fic sits somewhere in the period after Earth's destruction by SOL, before Revolver joins Yuusaku's gang (this part is so important to the storyline and to me lmao).
> 
> This is a middle chapter to introduce us to the next one, which will be a fill for the second prompt of day 4 (fallen). 
> 
> Also, this is kinda unrelated but I just found out recently that there's a datastorm discord? If anyone could send me an invite link either here or via my twitter (ruby_kyun) I'd love you forever. I'm not super active on Discord (used to be very active on it lmao) but I'm willing to re-download the app to talk datastorm with people?? Please ;w;

_side: yuusaku_

Awareness returning in a lightning rush, Yuusaku’s eyes snapped open to the faded brown-coloured paint of his ceiling, chest heaving as he fought to catch his much-needed breath.

_I’m… back?_

The last thing he remembered was Linkuriboh returning to his duel disk, Revolver calling his name in a rare show of alarm – he tried hard to not blush as he remembered what they’d done before – and looking up to see the other slowly turning translucent, disappearing into thin air.  

Had he logged out successfully? Wicckid had mentioned there were four monsters missing in total, but they’d only found Linkuriboh, so there should’ve been three more monsters to find before they could log out. The fact that Yuusaku was back in his bed made no sense.

“Good morning, Master!” Yuusaku jumped, breaths slowing down into repetitive pants as he sat up slightly to look at Roboppi, who had wheeled her way over to greet Yuusaku. The tiny blue robot took a look at him, tilting her head in worry, her low-resolution screen showing her droopy eyes as she faced Yuusaku.

“Are you feeling okay, Master?” He continued staring at her with wide eyes, feeling the choke of disbelief at how normal the tiny robot was being - shouldn’t she be crying over the fact that Ai was - 

“Go~od morning, Yuusaku-chan!” Flying into his room on his modified duel disk was Ai. Yuusaku stared at the dark purple Ignis, its presence eliciting a huge amount of relief in him that he didn’t bother moving Ai away when the Ignis reached up with its tiny hands to feel at his forehead. 

“What’s wrong? You looked like you’ve seen a ghost, bad dream?” Ai asked, yellow eyes morphing into a worried expression. Used to his traumatised flashbacks and screaming in the middle of the night, the Ignis, albeit teasing and an annoyance most of the time, knew when Yuusaku’s in the most need of care and concern. 

Yuusaku paused, before slowly removing Ai’s hand from his face. 

“I’m all right. It’s nothing.” He frowned, “Were you in my duel disk the whole night?” The Ignis scoffed at his concern being brushed off easily, crossing his arms across his chest and eyeing Yuusaku like his Origin had asked a stupid question (Yuusaku supposed he had, but he had to make sure). 

“Of course I was! Why would I be anywhere else?” Because nothing was making any sense - Ai had been in his duel disk, his duel disk had not been on his person, but apparently he had been trapped in Link VRAINS for the past night, with Revolver. 

“...Just checking.” He reached out and removed his deck from his duel disk, fanning the cards open across his bed, scanning for a certain card in his Extra Deck.

Cyberse Witch’s card was blank. The labels for her name, ATK, effect and Link Arrows were untouched, but the square in the middle of the card remained empty. Green eyes narrowed further, scanning for Linkuriboh’s, before breathing out a soft sigh of relief that its card was safe. 

Does this mean they’d successfully found and saved Linkuriboh last night?

“Yuusaku-chan? You’re being awfully weird - eeh! What happened to Cyberse Witch’s card?!” Ai had hopped onto his shoulder, trying to identify what Yuusaku had been scowling at. Reaching out to tap at the card, the A.I. winced.

“She’s gone, her card is here but she’s gone.” He nodded in agreement. “What’s going on, Yuusaku-chan?”

He’s not sure - his experiences last night had been nothing short of bizarre, and it had been instinct that had told him to trust Wicckid and check for Cyberse Witch’s card. Despite him being right, he still had no idea what was happening.

As if on cue, Linkuriboh emerged from his duel disk, pushing Ai aside in a valiant effort to gain some space in the tiny area.

“Hey! What gives!” Ai folded his arms across his tiny chest at the sphere-shaped monster, but faltered and blinked when his usual squabble buddy didn’t reply, choosing to prod gently at Yuusaku’s face with his body instead.

“Kurinku, kuri!!” Ai tilted his head to the side, and Yuusaku could envision the question marks floating above him.

“What do you mean that what happened yesterday was real? Nothing happened! We met up with Takeru and Flame, Kusanagi drove us hom –”

“So whatever happened yesterday, that was real?” Yuusaku tuned out Ai’s voice, looking at Linkuriboh, who nodded.

“– hey! Don’t ignore me! What’s wrong with you two?”

If what Linkuriboh said was true, that meant that he was actually with Revolver yesterday night (Yuusaku was stubbornly ignoring the evidence that screamed that he’d been in bed the whole night and Ai would’ve seen had he physically left the house), trapped in a rendition of Link VRAINS, and searching for missing Cyberse cards that were _actually_ missing. So… not a dream. At least, if it was, it’s not a normal one. Taking a deep breath and standing up, he looked at his partner.

“I don’t know. But I need you to track and message someone for me.”

If Revolver doesn’t come to him first, that is. 

 

* * *

 

“How did you track down Revolver’s mailbox?” Yuusaku blinked at Ryouken, who had chosen to bombard him with questions in place of a proper greeting.

“Good morning to you too!” Ai had appeared from his duel disk, glaring at Ryouken with his arms folded. “And let me tell you, it was easy with Ai-sama’s abilities –” Yuusaku sighed and muted Ai, turning back to Ryouken before nodding in greeting. 

“Come in,” Ryouken seemed to hesitate, before ducking his head and entering the door with a soft _“ojamashimasu”_ , making the tip of Yuusaku’s lip rise slightly at how well-mannered this aggressive individual was. For all of Revolver’s domineering aura, Kougami Ryouken had mellowed that out with his grace and politeness that endeared to Yuusaku.  

Inviting Ryouken over to his place had been a rash decision – Ai had definitely been against it, seeing that Yuusaku had demanded him to find Ryouken out of the blue and there were so many chances for Ryouken to break into their security in the one place they’re supposed to feel safe – but he couldn’t tell Ryouken to meet him at Kusanagi’s for the risk of his teammates finding out what was going on when Yuusaku himself was confused.

Not to mention the inability to explain Ryouken to Takeru. Yuusaku dreaded the day they meet, whether in Link VRAINS or real life.

“You’ve yet to answer my question.” Blinking out of his reverie, he frowned as his considered what he could say in reply.

As expected, tracking Ryouken down had not been easy – Yuusaku hadn’t attempted it, even during the other’s three months of radio silence, since he had absolute trust that Ryouken would return one day – and Yuusaku had all been ready to give up before Cyberse Witch’s card had glowed – _glowed_ , Ai had screamed in a dramatical manner, because what kind of card glowed of all things – a soft silvery blue and suddenly the network address had all but appeared on his screen. 

Ai had started rambling about some supernatural powers at work – whatever happened to AIs don’t pray, huh? – while Yuusaku had simply sat there staring in disbelief, before deciding that the whole situation couldn’t get any more weird and therefore it was worth giving that address a shot.

Lo and behold, it was indeed Kougami Ryouken’s Link VRAINS contact.

It wasn’t like he could explain what had happened to Ryouken, however.

“I had Ai track you down for me.” A half-truth, for it was Ai who had delivered the message, Yuusaku ignoring his gripping _“But Yuusaku-chan, this is sending me into enemy base! What if Revolver captures me instead?”_ That was a risk Yuusaku had to take, as he only had Revolver’s word to go on regarding his promise to not lay a hand on Ai until Lightning had been dealt with.

He tried hard not to think deeply about what it meant for him to still trust Ryouken this much, even after everything.

Ignoring Ryouken’s raised eyebrow to his answer – and his wandering eyes looking around Yuusaku’s apartment – Yuusaku turned and made his way to his desk, gesturing for Ryouken to take a seat in his study chair while he settled on the edge of his bed. 

“What’s wrong with you two?” Ai, who had managed to unmute himself, appeared and stared at both of them, turning between Ryouken and him alternatively.

The fact that Ryouken chose to appear after seeing Yuusaku’s message meant that they had indeed shared whatever strange experience yesterday together.

That meant that Ryouken probably remembers that Revolver and Playmaker had kissed. Necessity of the action aside, Yuusaku’s still trying to not remember the soft caress of Revolver’s lips – it wasn’t like it was real anyway. He was here, in bed, the whole night.

“… Ai, go watch your drama with Roboppi and leave the duel disk here. You can use the monitor’s network.” The purple-bodied Ignis turned back from where he was frowning at Ryouken with a startled noise.

“Yuusaku-chan! You’ve been acting weird, and now you want to be alone here, with this guy?” Ai paused, gasping melodramatically, tiny hands flying up to his face in an exaggerated show of scandalised shock, “Don’t tell me you two are having a secret rendez-”

“You Ignises have boring imagination as usual.” Ryouken drawled from where he was seated at Yuusaku’s desk, arms and legs crossed, an eyebrow raised as he looked critically at Ai.

Who merely scoffed back at him, turning back to Yuusaku for an explanation.

One which Yuusaku wasn’t sure he could give at the current moment. However, their missing cards are a problem and Ryouken’s already here – it would take too long to make Ai understand.

“…Ai, please.” The Ignis’ large yellow eyes grew bigger in surprise, and Yuusaku looked into them, unwavering, trying to convey that Yuusaku will explain everything eventually, but not now. The dark-attribute Ignis sighed, before backing down.

“Well, it can’t be helped… If you need help, Ai-sama’s always here for you, Yuusaku-chan!” Facing Yuusaku with a smile, Ai held his arms out, before turning slightly to scowl at Ryouken. “Someone else though…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not planning to ask for your help, of all things.” But _of course_ Ryouken had a sharp reply to Ai’s jab.  

Ai merely rolled his eyes, shot Yuusaku a look that Yuusaku read clearly as _“What’s so good about this jerk again?”_ , jumping out of his duel disk’s pocket network into the household’s.

Yuusaku closed his eyes, expanded his senses, waited until Ai was out of the household network and safely into the monitor’s before looking at Ryouken again.

“Sorry about that.” Ryouken nodded in reply, before uncrossing his limbs, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, fingers crossed in front him, looking at Yuusaku. The fluid movement made Yuusaku pause, he’d known that Ryouken was graceful – Revolver, too, moved with a sort of predatory grace in both avatar versions – but he’s never really had the time to appreciate the elegance that his fellow prisoner of destiny possessed.

The noise of his racing heart was getting annoying – this was not the time to be enamoured by how Ryouken settled in easily, how good his clothes fit his chiselled form and how his white hair still glowed under the dim lights of Yuusaku’s run-down apartment, contrasting nicely with the aged, cracked walls.  

He was regretting his decision to meet Ryouken in his apartment now. The other boy didn’t belong here with his classy aura and his expensive clothes and his pure white hair and his clear blue eyes, he belonged in his sea-side mansion, right by the bright glitters and icy luminescence of Stardust Road. Not the dull brown of Yuusaku’s old run-down dwelling.

“You wanted to talk about yesterday?” Yuusaku nodded, now was not the time for his thoughts to wander. Focus.

“Cyberse Witch’s card is empty.” Cutting to the chase always serves as a good distraction, Yuusaku pulls out his Link monster’s card and flashes it for Ryouken to see. The white-haired male frowned, before reaching towards his duel disk and bringing up two cards on the holoprojection – Topologic Bomber Dragon and Topologic Trisbaena, but like Cyberse Witch, the names, ATK and Link Arrows are present – with only the artworks missing.

“This means whatever Cyberse Wicckid said is true.” Ryouken made a soft noise in protest, “Or it could be a trap.”

“By who, though?” There was no need to question the why. Between the two of them and the war against Lightning and Windy, they had more than enough reasons for someone, anyone, to target them. However, they have not the slightest idea who was behind this. There was no way SOL could kidnap their Cyberse monsters – when they were behind the Knights of Hanoi in doing so in the first place – which made Lightning more likely. However, Yuusaku hadn’t detected any kind of Ignis presence yesterday, and there was another problem…

“I don’t think we were in Link VRAINS yesterday night.” Ryouken beat him to the conclusion first, and Yuusaku nodded after a moment of hesitation.

“I… wasn’t wearing my duel disk yesterday. Ai was here the whole night.” He watched as the white-haired male leaned back into his study chair again, eyes closed.

“Same, I don’t wear my duel disk to bed,” Yuusaku understood, too many chances of someone hacking into the device and hijacking his consciousness – it wasn’t something Yuusaku had to be especially wary of before, given that his duel disk requires actual cards and only connects to the network if he turns it on, but for Revolver who utilises a card database like the rest of the VR duelists, there was a chance that the server could be infected, even if it was private. 

“I’d chalked it up as a dream at first,” He admitted slowly, “But I checked my deck and Cyberse Witch was missing, Linkuriboh told me that everything that happened last night was real.”

Ryouken huffed lightly and crossed his arms in deep thought again. “So we should work with the hypothesis that despite it being in our heads, whatever events we’d experienced last night in our dreams were real?” He nodded.

“And that we’re apparently sharing a dream right now, for reasons unknown…” He drifted off, the memory of the kiss resurfacing along the heat in his cheeks.

“Which means we’re most likely stuck like this until we find all our cards.” If Ryouken noticed his slightly pink cheeks, he made no comments on it, for which Yuusaku was grateful.

“We’d have to find a way to check though.” The issue was how they should go about doing it. Verifying that VRAINS had no part to play in this whole fiasco was easy; they simply had to hack their way into the system, checking every nook and cranny for the coding that hinted at the area they had been in the previous night – Yuusaku was willing to bet that SOL had nothing to do with the mess. They could barely handle their own Christmas area and event codes, a blaring sign that they weren’t competent enough to pull this off. Also, logging into the system together will most likely prove that their D-Boards and various duel disk functions are active. Ryouken was sure to come to the same conclusion.

“… I have a suggestion.” He looked up, and there Ryouken was, with a conflicted frown on his face, ice-blue eyes staring straight into his own. For a moment, he thought he could see stars and galaxies beyond. 

Yuusaku’s breath hitches, and he waits patiently.

 

* * *

 

_side: ryouken_

Ryouken thinks he’s gone insane.

Fujiki Yuusaku’s head falls gently against his shoulder as the younger boy falls asleep to the train’s lulling motion, periwinkle-coloured tresses caressing his cheeks delicately.

Scratch that, Ryouken knows he’s gone insane.

They – as in he and Yuusaku, minus the annoying Ignis – were on the train taking them from downtown Den City to the station nearest to Stardust Road, to Ryouken’s seaside mansion. 

 _“… I have a suggestion."_

_Yuusaku looked up in surprise at him, emerald-coloured eyes wide and wondering._

_He paused, unsure if he should be making this suggestion – it was foolish, and entirely unnecessary. Some part of him just wanted Yuusaku out of this desolate apartment – that was still cold enough to be uncomfortable, he noted, even with the tell-tale heating vents – because he deserved so much better and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so._

_“… We should,” He tries hard not to introduce filler words like “uh” into his vocabulary all of a sudden, remembering the teachings of his father and Dr. Asou, “Stay together, until this whole incident is resolved.”_

_Emerald eyes widen further, gaining a bright shine. Ryouken squashed the sudden onslaught of fluttering in his chest at Yuusaku’s brightened expression – it was exhilarating, to be part of the younger boy’s reason for happiness, but –_

_“It’s easier to communicate this way, I won’t have to return to the docks of Den City every day, and you won’t have to have the Ignis send me encrypted mails.”_

_His adversary was still staring at him with wide eyes, as if the notion of Ryouken proposing they stay together – even temporarily – was something out of his wildest dreams –_

_No. It probably was. Ryouken knows it’s something he sees in his dreams on good nights without nightmares; something that turns reality into a nightmare instead._

_“I…” Yuusaku began, faltering, before taking a deep breath and looking at him with eyes that dazzled. “Sure, I don’t mind.” There was an uplift to an end of his lips, and Ryouken pretended to not notice._

After some discussion, they mutually decided that the old Kougami residence was the best place to settle in temporarily – despite what had happened the last time they had been there. Ryouken was not bringing Yuusaku onto the yacht – trust issues aside, it was getting too crowded with the five of them living on it for extended periods – and there was no way they were staying here, with how small Yuusaku’s bed was – he stubbornly willed away the thoughts that sharing a bed brought up.

Which, of course, leads Ryouken to his current situation: them sitting together on a train, Yuusaku’s head on his shoulder, the younger boy asleep. He was a welcomed feeling against Ryouken’s side, a warmth that lit up a soothing flame inside him.

_I am going insane._

Giving in to his urge, he looked down at his sleeping companion, brushing away a stray strand of purple-coloured hair from his forehead to reveal Fujiki Yuusaku’s features – vulnerable and exposed for the whole world to see.

There was a certain softness to the wisteria-haired boy that he covers with his online persona – Playmaker’s eyeliner combined with his flat expression and common scowls made him prickly, like a rose with thorns, while Yuusaku was exactly like his namesake – soft blue and purple petals falling gently, but fleeting in the face of the arriving harsh weather. A side that he was sure his fellow allies didn’t get to see often.

Perhaps it’s only because it’s Ryouken. Yuusaku did tend to trust Ryouken more than he should for their current situation – even the Ignis had noticed – and Ryouken was highly ambivalent about the amount of trust Yuusaku places in him to let down his guard to this extent. 

Here was a boy whom Ryouken had hurt, here was a boy who was willing to trust Ryouken fully when it came to himself despite all the pain Ryouken has caused him.

But here was also a boy who stood, stubbornly and foolishly, against Ryouken’s ideals. Against the future of humanity.

He doesn’t know what to do.

Gently, he settles his right cheek against the top of Yuusaku’s head, careful not to wake the other, and closed his eyes. A few more stations to their stop, the slow movement of the train and Yuusaku’s comforting presence against him.  

It feels like time simply stops here – and everything is telling Ryouken to stop worrying because this is right.

Destroying the Ignis is his top priority, but if this is a break given by whatever deity that had tied him and Yuusaku together, if they could share it together, Ryouken would take it.  

If not for the presence of Yuusaku with him, then for the fact that this is probably the last time they’ll spend together.

The train approaches the vicinity of Stardust Road, the ocean glowing bright against the crimson amber of the setting sun. Outside, snow starts to fall softly, landing on the roads, the luminescent ocean, like the skies have blessed the earth with a million dancing faes, shining brightly in the descending darkness of the night.

 

* * *

 

_omake: that morning (ryouken)_

He awoke to the slow lulling motion of the sea and the sharp rays of the rising sun, feeling a pounding pressure between his temples. Groaning and sitting up, he ran a hand through his ruffled white tresses, before freezing as memories of last night returned.

_What the -_

Wasn’t he trapped in Link VRAINS with Playmaker, unable to log out, and doing some sort of Cyberse-hunting upon the request of Cyberse Wicckid?

Forget that, hadn’t he _kissed_ Playmaker? Feeling heat rush to his face, he shook the thought - memory? - away, scowling down at his blankets. While he admits to having occasional dreams of Yuusaku or Playmaker - as well as waking up to a mess of feelings about it - the Cyberse monsters had definitely been extra and completely unnecessary. Not to mention annoying. 

_What was that all about?_

His duel disk beeped on the small bedside table beside him, Ryouken frowned when he saw the red LED light shining repeatedly, signalling a new message. Kyouko and the others knew better than to contact him via his duel disk mailbox when he was not logged in with extra security measures – they had their private server for that after all – so the fact that someone was messaging him through his duel disk was suspicious.

Getting out of bed, he made his way to the cabin, where Spectre was seated at the desk with one of their shared laptops. The white-haired male looked up, startled, before slamming the laptop screen down at lightning speed, flecks of pink dusting his cheeks.

“Ah, uh, good morning, Ryouken-sama.”

This was unsettling, especially after what he’d experience yesterday. Ryouken took a moment to dig his nails into his palms, before raising an eyebrow at the grey-haired teen.

“That was uncharacteristic of you.” In fact, Ryouken could recall a certain incident where their positions had been reversed – Spectre had caught Ryouken lurking on some of Playmaker’s shadier fansites and discussion boards. The only person he knows that Spectre would pay attention and was attractive enough to the general public to warrant having their own fanbase was…

“Gathering information on Blue Angel this early in the morning?” Spectre, to his credit, met Ryouken’s gaze with a firm stubbornness.

“I wasn’t –” He began, before faltering, and looking away, embarrassment clear on his face, “Blue Angel – although she’s not as active nowadays as such – posted an update for Christmas,” Ryouken supposed that was the price Zaizen Aoi had to pay for remaining an idol of Link VRAINS despite being entangled in this war – “I was… doing research.” Ryouken raised an eyebrow.

“Research? Well, as long as it doesn’t distract you.” Feeling a small smirk grow, he closed his eyes – at least between the two of them, someone’s doing something about their ridiculous feelings.

_What am I thinking?_

He missed Spectre’s expression changing from being affronted to devious.

“You know, Ryouken-sama, you should do something for Christmas too.” He refused to rise to that, especially after yesterday – yesternight?

“I fail to see what you’re talking about.” The younger male’s grin grew.

“Oh, I think you _do_ know what I’m talking about.” Ryouken sighed.

“I have no time for such frivolities. Besides, I doubt Playmaker would be very happy to see me now.” He saw Spectre’s eyes narrow in satisfaction and knew that he’d fallen for his subordinate’s tricks.

“I didn’t mention Playmaker at all, Ryouken-sama. But whatever floats your boat~” Spectre teased, “Besides, I’m sure Playmaker would be happy to see you regardless.” Ryouken seriously doubted that – their truce was temporary, and he makes his dislike and goal of destroying the Ignis’s eventually extremely clear every meeting – it would only cause Yuusaku more confusion and unnecessary feelings. Feelings that Ryouken wasn’t sure what to do about, or whether he could reciprocate at all.

“Mm,” Ryouken gave a nonchalant reply. There was no need for Spectre to know about what he thought about their truce.

“That aside, I’d like you to track something for me – don’t look at me like that, you’re the one commandeering the table right now,” They needed a bigger one and soon, when the need for all the Knights to work together came. Wirelessly connecting his Duel Disk to the laptop, he turned his attention to the screen, where Spectre had pulled up the tracking program.

“Someone tried to contact me via my Duel Disk just now, and I need you to discern who it’s from.” Spectre made a noise out of curiosity, starting his analysis with an eyebrow raised.

The signature of the sender was unmistakable, and Ryouken recognized it as Spectre raised an eyebrow in vague familiarity – but of course the Knights would be more familiar with the codes for the Ignises of Light and Wind, but this specific code induced an ambivalence of disgust and longing at the same time. He bit his lips, remembering the fleeting feeling – nothing more than his brains playing tricks on him, since he hadn’t met Fujiki Yuusaku physically yesternight – of Playmaker’s lips on his.

“This… is the Ignis of Darkness’ code, isn’t this?” Spectre looked up at him, raised eyebrow conveying more of mischief than worry, and Ryouken resisted the urge to slam the laptop down in childish denial.

He settled for a noncommittal reply instead.

“What could Playmaker want with you, though?” The teasing in his subordinate’s voice was unmistakable, and Ryouken tried his best to not read into it.

Yuusaku contacting Ryouken the morning after Ryouken’s weird dream? If he were a naïve individual, Ryouken would optimistically brush this off as a simple coincidence. 

Except in his world, coincidences don’t exist. His life would be a lot simpler if they did.

“Open it.” Spectre shrugged in response, before double clicking on the mail.

 _Check your extra deck. We need to talk. Now. Meet me at my place ASAP._  

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ryouken could tell Spectre was holding back from making additional comments – probably something along the lines of _oh is that supposed to be some code for a secret romantic rendezvous_ – that Ryouken didn’t need right now.

“I… don’t know.” He was going to assume that Yuusaku’s message was to the point, therefore he had to take it literally. Picking up his duel disk, he pulled up the data for his extra deck, before freezing. 

Displayed beside Borreload Savage Dragon were two blank cards – not completely blank, but the card artworks were missing below the names of _Topologic Trisbaena_ and _Topologic Bomber Dragon_.

This is problematic.

“Oya?” His silver-haired companion had turned his attention onto Ryouken’s duel disk instead, “Am I seeing things, or are your Cyberse monsters… gone?”

_“The ones who’d gone missing recently are Linkuriboh, two of the Topologic triplets, uh, I think Bomber Dragon and Trisbaena?”_

“Hm.”

“Is this what Playmaker wanted to talk to you about?”

“I suppose.” Sighing, Ryouken made his way to the yacht controls in the adjacent room.

“Let the others know that we’re headed back onshore.”

“Yes, sir.” He didn’t even have to look back to know that Spectre was grinning in amusement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ryouken looks pretty chill from Yuusaku's pov but trust me he's not. (Why do you know Yuusaku’s address, pretty boy?) 
> 
> Also, M2M is very good for writing datastorm (I feel old).


	4. second night (ryouken): antinomy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryouken wrestles with his feelings and sense of duty.
> 
> For Datastorm December: Day 04: fallen //

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~No the title is not a reference to Bruno. Also, this thing is 7k are you kidding me~~
> 
>  
> 
> I promised that I will resume updates in June, and here it is! This chapter fought me as hard as Yuusaku and Ryouken did each other at end of S1. I finished it on a train ride from Niagara Falls to New York City (which, fyi, is 9 hours long). My eyes hurt and my contacts are killing me so I'll revise this later. Lmk if you spot anything funky, _please_. Travelling is tiring and I have a cold. Hoorah.
> 
> Also, I know I've switched tenses, again. *groans* Forgive me I can't seem to make up my mind.

He’s regretting not putting more thought into his spur-of-the-moment proposal.

Returning home after three months was surprisingly anticlimactic – he’d expected the familiar sense of helplessness and regret to flood in, or perhaps even the nagging annoyance that he’d felt towards Playmaker before he’d found out that he and Subject No. 6 were one and the same, even.

But nothing came.

No, that’s the wrong word to use.

The place had been exactly as he’d last left it – the room with large glass windows overseeing Stardust Road illuminated a silvery-blue by the ocean glow. Even with the presence of Yuusaku beside him – or perhaps it’s because of that – there had been a certain curious tranquillity that had allowed Ryouken to settle, despite the circumstances three months before. 

Yuusaku had remained quiet throughout their walk from the station and up the hill, and Ryouken suspected it might be from the embarrassment of falling asleep on him. He’d gotten a very nice view of Yuusaku’s blush as he jerked away upon waking, after all. 

Playmaker and Fujiki Yuusaku might have similar facial features, but even Ryouken got the feeling that they were could be two different people at times. It’s a silly notion, he thinks, staring at Playmaker’s visage as he was bombarded with the miniature Firewall Dragon and Linkuriboh the moment they spawned into… wherever this was.

They are back at in front of the Christmas tree where they had found Linkuriboh the night before (after Ryouken had shown Yuusaku to a guestroom, had a light takeout dinner together with Ryouken trying to not stare at the way the light danced off Yuusaku’s soft features, and they had gone their separate ways in the mansion again, presumably to bed at some point). The tinsel-wrapped tree was now missing its topper, but the crowds that swarmed the shops of the town centre paid it, and the sudden appearance of two individuals and two monsters, no mind.

It doesn't seem like the place had changed much from the previous night. Ryouken eyes the old clocktower that stood beyond the tree, its hands were laid together pointing north – of course it’d be twelve midnight, how clichéd.

“Revolver,” He turns his attention towards Playmaker at the sound of his temporary companion’s voice. His companion now holds that accursed dragon in his arms like one would do with a puppy, while Linkuriboh remains perched on his head, flattening the orange tresses that blushed pink under the tinted lights. “We should head towards the next card.” The tiny Firewall Dragon chirrups after its owner, giving a small fidget, signalling its urge to leave its comfortable confines of its master’s arms. Playmaker lets him go, and the tiny dragon let out a loud howl, before a sphere of yellow light begins to encircle it once again. Playmaker tugs on Revolver’s arm for him to give the Cyberse some space.

A moment later, Firewall Dragon appears in front of them in all of its full-sized glory, amidst a flurry of dancing sparkles. It leans down to nuzzle Playmaker in the nose, his green-eyed companion’s sharp eyes softening and a lilt to his lips as he reaches up to caress the halo-like structure of the monster. His dark-gloved fingers were slender and flitted gently across the silver metal, and it reminded him of the way Playmaker would handle his cards with care even during a duel.

There is a growing black hole of… something – he squashes it ruthlessly.

“You want me to get on?” Playmaker asks in reply to Firewall Dragon’s low growl, before looking at Revolver. “But Revolver…” The Cyberse dragon snorts at him, and Ryouken suppresses a childish urge to roll his eyes in response – in a way, these monsters are very much like the Dark Ignis. 

“I’d rather not get thrown off your Cyberse, if that makes any difference.” There is something he could probably do, given that monsters can materialise in this world and his duel disk’s virtual holographic systems are still functioning – they are there for a reason.

It’s worth a try.

Bringing up his deck data, he pulls up Borreload Savage Dragon’s card from his Extra Deck, Playmaker’s eyes widens as he realises Ryouken’s next move.

“Revolver, I don’t think –”

His dragon appears in dashes of phosphorescent lights, its cylindrical body structure gleaming sharply under the decorations and its own fluorescent wings, letting out a huge roar.

One which Firewall Dragon returned with equal fervour, he notes.

Screams flood the town centre at Savage Dragon’s descend. The shoppers who had previously ignored Firewall Dragon were now looking at Savage Dragon with wide, fearful eyes. He jerks at the sudden increase in noise around them. Playmaker’s green eyes narrows, their owner letting out a hiss.

 _“_ _Everything here screams Cyberse.”_

Hadn’t Playmaker said that on the first night? Ryouken knows from experience that the inhabitants of the Cyberse world are especially sensitive and closed off to outsiders. Does this mean everything in this place have roots in the Cyberse? The current scene playing out around him is reminiscent of a time long past, when he’d first infiltrated and destroyed the Cyberse.

Now they’ve drawn attention towards themselves, great. While Ryouken wasn’t afraid of the inhabitants of this world going on the offense, it would slow them down significantly and that was a problem.

“Revolver!” Playmaker’s voice comes from above him, and Ryouken realises that his companion was already on Firewall Dragon and in the air. “Get on Savage Dragon!” His dragon synchro let out a growl, as if in agreement. 

Narrowing his eyes, he takes off at a light jog and propels himself onto Savage Dragon with ease. A jump, supported by hands placed on his dragon’s back – it wasn’t any different from mounting Borreload Dragon – and hissing at the cold winter air assaulting him as his monster takes off without pause, joining Firewall Dragon in the dark skies and leaving the town centre ruckus behind.

Playmaker shoots him a look from where he sat on Firewall Dragon, gripping the sides of his Cyberse tightly as they cut speedily into the night, he brushes it off with ease. His adversary does not look very threatening at the moment, with him all but hugging his dragon, Linkuriboh gripping tightly onto his head chirping _“kurinkuriku”_ as it tries to hold onto its master amidst Firewall Dragon’s flying.

Destroying the Cyberse was what he had been tasked to do, terrorising them was nothing compared to the damage that he’d done to the actual Cyberse. There had been no damage done either. Ryouken suspects that is the only reason why Playmaker had let him off so easily. 

Firewall lets out a howl, and Linkuriboh gave a soft defeated _“kurin”_ , before disappearing in a flourish of blue pixels into Playmaker’s duel disk. The boy spares it an apologetic glance as it pixelates, hands not leaving Firewall Dragon’s sides.

He raises an eyebrow. He hadn’t noticed this the day before, but Playmaker, who had mounted a D-Board for a speed duel without hesitation, who dared to ride the wildest of data storms for victory, who had dared to seize the wind, was afraid of riding a dragon? Then again, Ryouken supposed he did have more experience in riding dragons. He’s been doing it long before he became a teenager, after all.

“Firewall says to follow it!” Green eyes look at him for a brief moment, before looking down and focusing on his grip again. Ryouken approves.

It wouldn’t do for Playmaker to fall.

But it is a pity that Playmaker wouldn’t be able to enjoy this beautiful view. The dark skies are clear with numerous stars shining and dancing about, embracing the both of them on their journey.

 

* * *

 

Their destination is relatively far from where they had departed from, considering how fast their dragons are going. Even he had to admit that it was getting a little chilly in this December weather, and the beautiful night sky could only keep his attention for so long.  Ryouken spots an outline of an ancient stone structure in the dark – it is easy to tell from the debris, even if he doesn’t know what structure it is – as they approached the floating island. It was probably an area similar to the one Playmaker had spawned in last night.

He hears a soft breath of relief from Playmaker as Firewall Dragon finishes its descent from the skies and onto solid ground – in the very loose of the term, for they were technically still floating in the air – and smirks at him as he hopped off Savage Dragon, patting its head.

“Not used to riding on a dragon?” Playmaker’s mouth dips downward at Ryouken’s teasing, emerald eyes cutting in their glare. 

“I’ll get better, this is only my second time.” He didn’t doubt Yuusaku would – it was difficult for Ryouken to imagine anything Yuusaku wasn’t good at when it came to any kind of riding in the skies.

Savage Dragon gives his palm one last nudge before fading away, reminiscent of the way monsters faded after a duel back in the old days. A familiar sphere of light signals Firewall Dragon’s transformation, the now miniaturised Cyberse monster falling back into Yuusaku’s arms with slowing beats of metallic wings. Ryouken didn’t doubt that the Cyberse is tired, its blue glow fainter than usual, and its eyes less bright than before.

Approaching Playmaker to stand beside his companion, Ryouken turns towards the ancient Roman temple – he could see it now, the debris of the pillars, the cracked walls, dark patches of moss lining them, and aged grey vines spread across the structure, expanding their reach in their quest to stay alive. For its age, the temple stood largely intact, a flight of stairs leading to the portico, followed by the rotunda. It reminds him of the Pantheon in Rome that he’d only seen in pictures of when he was younger. The full moon shines high above them, its light descending onto the triangular roof structure and pillars, drawing shadows that hindered their view of what laid beyond the entrance. Ryouken finds himself being slightly apprehensive as the night wind nudged at something in his senses, a hint of familiarity.

“It’s probably my card.” Playmaker turns to look at him, arms curled protectively around Firewall Dragon.

“Let’s go.” For a moment, Ryouken wonders if his adversary had always been this daring. Then again, it did take a lot of guts and bravery (or just a foolish, foolish urge for revenge) for the younger boy to have taken the Knights of Hanoi on as he had done.

To wander into the temple without any kind of preparation… He watches as Playmaker starts to make his way towards the ancient structure, Cyberse monster held firmly in his arms, back straight and confident.

It is Fujiki Yuusaku’s back, but for a moment Ryouken thinks Playmaker looks bigger than himself, bigger than Revolver, and bigger than all of humanity with all the weight he carried.

Once upon a time, Ryouken had wished that his biggest adversary and his biggest mistake were different individuals, but destiny hadn’t been so kind, and Playmaker and the boy with the pretty eyes and cheerful smile became the same person.

Now, Ryouken was glad that Yuusaku had found strength to stand again, albeit temporarily, even if that had been at the price of hatred against Ryouken’s cause. In a world where nothing matters, where nothing really counts. Everything here is temporary, and he should remember that, especially when Playmaker looked like – 

“Revolver?” Playmaker’s features glow against the backdrop of the night and the silvery whisper of the moonlight. His bright green eyes and his pale lips, and Ryouken remembered last night, he had kissed Playmaker under a similar shower of white – those lips were as soft as he’d dreamt of them to be –

“…I’m coming.”

Falling into step beside Playmaker, he feels the heavy stare of the other on him – Yuusaku was no longer trying to be subtle, with his head overtly turned to face Revolver, and Ryouken was sure the other’s eyes were wide. He could feel the yearning in those expressive green eyes lighting up a flicker of warmth in him, before his guilt floods in and extinguishes the flame. It was a different kind of awkward compared to their journey on foot yesterday.

“…If you have something to say, say it.” Playmaker seems to remember himself, and turns away at lightning speed, looking down at the top of Firewall Dragon’s head as they continued their journey.

“It’s nothing.” Ryouken stops himself from calling out the other. It’s no business of his if Playmaker looked at him like that.

Really, it isn’t.

But the words remain at the tip of his tongue and he knows he has to say this now or Yuusaku would get the wrong idea again –

“Don’t get the wrong idea.” Playmaker’s head snaps up, and Ryouken looks straight at him while avoiding those vast emerald pools by directing his attention towards his forehead instead, “I’m doing this to get our cards back.” After yesterday, it’s clear from Cyberse Wicckid’s instructions – as erroneous as those had been – that the tasks required both of their participation together. If it weren’t for that fact, Ryouken would be making sure that Yuusaku’s always kept far away from him.

“…I know.” He sees Yuusaku’s visage in Playmaker’s expression as the boy looked back down, turning on his heels and continuing his strides towards their destination with an air of faked nonchalance and his head held high.

Ryouken ignores the sinking feeling in him; something that screams at him to take his words back. The monstrosity of the mess that is his feelings for Yuusaku pulls at its chains, thrashes about violently. He pretends to be blind.

 _This is for Yuusaku’s sake,_ he told himself, looking up at the towering temple and _not_ at Playmaker. The other boy was better off staying far away from Ryouken. He had little trust in himself to not do something that would ultimately hurt Yuusaku, and if Ryouken himself was a threat, he should be putting as much distance between the two of them as possible.

They ascend the crumbling stone stairs in silence, the air around them stale with words unsaid.

The darkness that greets them beyond the last crumbling step is daunting. It seems to go on endlessly beyond the doors of the dilapidated temple, wisps swirling about in the air. Playmaker pauses beside him, looking up at the large stone entrance in hesitation, arms tightening the slightest bit around the dragon in his arms. Revolver raises an eyebrow at him.

“Scared, Playmaker?” Viridian green eyes glared at him at the taunt, narrow in their intensity. He smirks back at his temporary companion. Playmaker doesn’t bother gracing him with a reply, stepping forward to enter the temple. Ryouken stares at his retreating back for a while, taking in the slender lines of the other boy, from his narrow shoulders down to his tiny waist. Does he even eat? As far as he knew, Fujiki Yuusaku’s diet seemed to consist entirely of hotdogs and soda, so it was amazing that the other was so tiny even in real life. Ryouken could just imagine wrapping his arms around –

He really needs to stop becoming distracted. Willing those thoughts away, he steps forward to follow in Playmaker’s footsteps.

The inside of the temple is equally dark, and Ryouken has to squint to see his surroundings, mentally cursing his decision to include a visor in his avatar design. It has its useful moments, but this is definitely not one of them.

“That’s… a serpent?” Playmaker nods toward the large patch of darkness in front of them, and Ryouken peers closer, eyeing the two heads of the animal depicted on the mural – one of them located on the tail. 

“That’s an amphisbaena.” He breathes out in realisation, before continuing, “The card here is Topologic Trisbaena.” Despite knowing that his card laid in this place, something is throwing him off. He might not have Playmaker’s Link Sense, but there is something sinister lying in that darkness. His companion straightens, looking at him.

“Let’s go then, Revolver.” Before he’d realised what he was doing, he was pulling Playmaker back by his arms. The boy looks at him in confusion, and Ryouken releases his grip, as if touching Playmaker had burned him. He clears his throat.

“There’s something dangerous in there. Can’t you feel it?” Green eyes look back at him in confusion, and Playmaker shakes his head no. 

Great. Something that Playmaker’s Link Sense can’t capture. The idiot was going to run into some kind of trap and get himself killed if he barged in like that. He didn’t want to think about whether they could die in this weird rendition of Link VRAINS, but he wasn’t about to let Playmaker get killed under his watch.

“I’ll go in first. Stay close.” He resorts to snapping instead, taking wide strides so he was at the front, pushing at Playmaker to stay behind him. He feels rather than sees Playmaker’s nonchalant shrug, mentally sighing at how the other was so agreeable with him despite them being sworn enemies.

Then again, sworn enemies don’t feel the urge to protect each other, so Ryouken was doing an awful job at being one for Playmaker too. Stopping right in front of the entrance, he peers inside at the never-ending darkness. It would be detrimental for them to get separated in the temple – the challenge was for both of them, and Ryouken was willing to get it’s going to find a way to separate them too. He sighs, resigning himself to his upcoming fate.

“We should… find a way to not get separated.” Playmaker leans over slightly to stare at him from his side, the tiny dragon still in his arms, and Ryouken ignores how young and innocent it made his adversary look, fighting the urge to sigh and sulk at himself. The other boy was smart, he could figure it out without Ryouken having to say the words out loud.

However, Playmaker continues to stare at him, eyebrows slightly furrowed and struggling with himself. Ryouken’s being torn apart between his fondness at how naïve the younger boy could be, as well as the urge to scream in frustration at how someone so sharp and smart could be so slow.

“… Here.” Not giving Playmaker a chance to react, he grabs Playmaker’s left hand and links their fingers together, ignoring the way Playmaker lets out a noise of surprise and adjusts his hold on Firewall.

“Don’t you dare let go, do you hear me?” His made sure to speak deeply, hammering the point home. The other duelist nods, eyes wider than ever as he wriggles his fingers around Ryouken’s.

“Let’s go.” The insides of the temple remain shrouded in darkness even upon their entrance, and Ryouken has to blink a few times to allow his eyes to adjust. Firewall dragon serves as a decent light source for them both, and Ryouken can now see the outline of the amphisbaena engraved on the walls above the sole walkway deeper into the temple clearly. The mythical creature painted a threatening and handsome picture on the marble surface, its front head pointed down towards the door, its back head roaring above it.

His instincts remain alert at the feeling of threat lingering beyond the door, tendrils of complete darkness spilling from it, and he squeezes Playmaker’s hand lightly, just to make sure the other was still around. His companion squeezes back, and Ryouken settles slightly. Leading the way into the door, the unsettling feeling grows stronger.

As soon as he sets foot into the next room, the floor crumbles under him.

“Revolver!”

Ryouken winces at the friction of the broken marble shards rubbing against his back as he hangs from Playmaker’s hand, legs dangling into what seemed like a never-ending darkness. Looking up, he sees that Firewall is now hovering about in the air around Playmaker, still looking lethargic, and the younger boy is now using both hands to keep them both from falling. Scowling, he racks his brain for a solution – it wouldn’t do for Yuusaku that they both fall, but at the same time, separation is not a valid option right now either. He remains reluctant to let Playmaker wander this place alone, because he knows from experience that his monsters are nothing but violent and aggressive. Not to mention the animosity that he feels from this place makes him hesitate to leave Yuusaku unprotected.

Before he could try to swing about to grip onto the remaining marble platform, it crumbles as well, and suddenly a gust is in his face and he feels Playmaker’s hands loosening their grip as the younger boy falls with him, his shout and Firewall’s distressed cry sharp to his ears. Tightening his hold on Playmaker, Ryouken pulls his adversary towards him, ignoring his painful yelp, tilting so that he now faces his adversary and could hold onto the other’s shoulders.   

“Hold on!” Green eyes were wide with the other’s shock, coloured with a hint of fear, and Ryouken could not help but smile as he feels the younger boy’s arms wrap around his torso in return. Yuusaku’s eyes snap close against the strength of the wind, and Ryouken pulls him closer, one hand resting on orange tresses. Playmaker presses his face into his shoulder, their legs tangling together in the fall.  

Despite the roaring winds in his ears and the painful push of air against his back, he feels Yuusaku’s presence vividly – the brush of his hair across his face, the feeling of his breath and his wildly beating heart, rhythm matching Ryouken’s own.

Time stops, and Ryouken closes his eyes, holds Yuusaku as close as possible and meets the darkness head on.

This isn’t a bad way to go.

 

* * *

 

“-volver, Revolver, wake up!” The person shaking his shoulders was careful to make sure that he doesn’t hit the hard floor blow him, but their grip was tight. Ryouken’s eyes snap open to meet bright green ones. _He’s safe._  

Playmaker is frowning down at him in worry, the accursed Cyberse still in the air above him.

“Good, you’re awake.” His companion lets out a small sigh of relief, hands tightening one last time on his shoulders before letting go. Ryouken winces at the aches in his joints as he tries to sit up, placing a hand on the floor to stable himself.

“How long was I out for?”

“About three hours – according to our duel disks, anyway. I woke up right before you, actually.” He stands up, patting the dust off his dark green body suit, before looking around in thought. Ryouken follows his example, noting the older looking marble walls around them, and the dense of cloud of darkness they had evidently fallen from right above them. He’s lying on a floor with a trefoil knot pattern painted in red, the three loops linked together in a triangular shape – further confirming that the monster here is indeed Topologic Trisbaena. 

“There’s no debris.” He further observes, frowning, then blinking in surprise at the offered hand from Playmaker. His companion looks bashful, hand wavering at the sudden attention. Ryouken takes it, using his other hand to push himself into a standing position, but Playmaker doesn’t let go. Raising an eyebrow at Playmaker, the younger boy looks away for a slight moment, wavering, then refocusing on him with a determined gaze.

“You said to hold on and not let go.” And he did say that, right before the fall.

He had managed to protect Yuusaku, and he doesn’t know what to feel about this realisation. Ryouken has become so accustomed at being the source of Yuusaku’s misfortune that the very idea that he could one day protect and save Yuusaku again has never occurred to him, despite the other boy’s claims. The chained beast in him relaxes and quiets in contentment at the realisation, but the rest of Ryouken is conflicted – he cannot warm up to this, cannot get used to it and cannot crave it. He must stop Yuusaku from becoming content with this, but he can’t do so unless he stops gravitating towards the other boy.

“I did.” He acknowledges before thinking it through, and it frustrates him.

“You’re right about the debris,” Playmaker continues and nods, turning to look around the circular room that had evidently been the place they had tried to enter from above. Ryouken laces their fingers together, and Yuusaku’s fingers flex slightly, before tightening.

If they had fallen from above, the debris should’ve fallen along with them. However, the room remains clean and empty of everything else other than dust and the three of them. While it is a mystery, Ryouken decides to put it aside for now since it doesn’t seem to hinder their progress. A glance at Playmaker confirmed that his companion had come to the same conclusion.

There are two exits facing each other, Playmaker frowns at them both, and Ryouken just knows he wouldn’t like what the boy was about to suggest. 

“We should split up.” He flinches at Ryouken’s tightened grip and glare.

“We’re not doing something that foolish.” The feeling of danger is gone, but he was not leaving Yuusaku alone. Playmaker, however, chose to behave in that petulant way he’s always had.

“It’s going to help us cover more grounds.” 

“What happened to ‘Not letting go’, hm?” Green eyes widen in surprise, and Playmaker presses his lips together slightly at Ryouken’s remark. His grip on Playmaker’s hand remains firm.

“Good for you to see reason.” If Yuusaku has any complains, Ryouken doesn’t give him any time to voice them. “Let’s go.” He tugs Playmaker towards the exit closest to him, the younger boy silently following his lead and his Cyberse shadow behind him.

The exit leads to a curved, low passageway lit by flames on its walls. Playmaker breaks the silence between them, first.

“… Thank you, for just now.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” A blatant lie, he remembers the feeling of Yuusaku’s body – digital and fake as it may be – against his, and the comfort he felt at knowing that he was going to protect the boy in his arms.

“I wouldn’t have minded, had that been the end.” Ryouken hisses, stopping and turning around to glare at Yuusaku, who merely looks at him calmly.

“I had no intention of that being the last for both of us. We have a war to fight, and this is merely an annoyance that we have to clear.” As frustrating as their situation is, as annoying as Yuusaku can be with his stubborn tendencies to believe and protect the Ignises, Ryouken is angry at how Yuusaku treats death like a close eventuality for himself, and how nonchalant he can be. 

“I didn’t know you had a death wish, Playmaker. What happened to all that determination you showed during our duel?” Playmaker frowns, the first hint of annoyance at Ryouken.

“Don’t get me wrong, I want to live, and I want you to live,” He falters, “I just thought that I wouldn’t have minded,” Ryouken wants to cover his ears, to play deaf to whatever Yuusaku is about to say. It’s easier to live with his own thinking that Yuusaku is better off without him, and that he hates him, rather than to ever acknowledge the alternative.

“You protected me, and I wouldn’t have minded if that was how we ended.” And Ryouken snaps, letting go of Playmaker’s hands and pushing the shorter boy against the wall, closing him in with both hands on either side of his head. Firewall makes an appalled noise at him, but neither of them pay it any mind.

Playmaker’s eyes are wide in surprise, Ryouken could see his own reflection in them even with the dim lighting. He looks so young from where Ryouken stares down at him, with bright eyes and shapely features. Once again, Ryouken finds himself being in Yuusaku’s proximity, close enough to see him bite on his pink lips just slightly, and to hear his soft but quick breaths.

“Don’t,” He warns, voice low and guttural, and Playmaker’s breath hitches, “Don’t ever feel safe or content when I’m in your proximity.” Leaning down to press his lips against Yuusaku’s ears, he feels the younger boy shiver at the close contact.

“You should never feel safe in my arms.” Forcefully pushing himself away, he deliberately pays no attention to the fact that Yuusaku’s cheeks are now a shade darker, takes Yuusaku’s hands in his again, and continues walking. Playmaker stumbles slightly after him, Firewall Dragon cooing on his head to try and comfort his master.

“…I still do, though.” Frustration wells up in him, and Ryouken wonders just what it is about his warning that isn’t getting through Fujiki Yuusaku’s thick skull.

“Hmph, suit yourself.” He lets it go, however, as the next room approaches, and they both come to a stop in front of it. From where he stood at the edge of the room, Ryouken could see that it resembled the previous room they’d been in in terms of its circular floor area and that there was another exit leading to another walkway – the only thing that was missing was the coloured patterns on the floor, replaced by smooth marble. Above them, the darkness continued to whisper about in the air. He takes a step in.

_Welcome, Kougami Ryouken, Fujiki Yuusaku._

The voice comes from all around them, and Ryouken darts his eyes around, trying to find its source. Playmaker frowns as he looks around as well, posture tense.

_It’s futile to try and find us, one of the three wise guardians of this temple._

“Guardian?”

_Indeed, for we will now guide you to what you seek, Kougami Ryouken. You have first proven yourself worthy of taking on this quest by overcoming fear and terror, and now, you will have to undergo this trial to regain what you have lost._

“Was that meant to scare me away?” Ryouken scoffs and Playmaker looks at him in worry, tightening his grip on Ryouken’s hand.

 _If you were deterred, you wouldn’t be here._  His frown deepens.

“Enough talk, we don’t have all day. What’s the task this time?”

_Including this room, there are three rooms in total. Each of them will contain one guardian, along with one question that you have to answer. Answering them all correctly will lead you to what you seek._

“… A riddle?” Playmaker mumbles under his breath. “That’s kind of… RPG-ish.” Ryouken is inclined to agree.

 _These questions are more than just riddles, Fujiki Yuusaku. If you answer anything but the truth, Kougami Ryouken, we will know, and you will forever lose what you seek to regain._ Despite not having a physical manifestation and remaining monotonous, Ryouken got the feeling that the guardian was laughing at them. 

“I’m ready. Ask away.”

_Which of the following would you choose: family, or duty?_

Ryouken scoffs again, glaring up at the darkness dancing above them.

“A trick question? My duty is to fulfil my responsibilities to my family, which is to carry on my father’s wishes to eliminate the Ignises from this world. It’s foolish for me to choose between them, for they are the same thing.” Yuusaku’s grip on him tightens, but Ryouken pays it no mind – it’s his purpose in life, and Ryouken doesn’t care if Playmaker doesn’t like it when he has made it clear again and again.

 _Very well. That is correct._ The floor lights up, and Playmaker takes a step back in surprise. It dims into a soft glow, and the voice speaks again.

_You may now proceed to the next room. A word of caution, Kougami Ryouken, to always think through your answers carefully. You only need to face the truth to reach the correct answer._

“I don’t need you to tell me what I already know.” Playmaker tugs on his hand to exit the room, a conflicted expression on his face as they entered the next passageway.

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

“Overcoming fear and terror?” Ah, that. He shrugs, not turning to face Playmaker.

“Nothing you should concern yourself about.” Playmaker makes for an interesting picture, as he quickens his pace to step in front of Ryouken, effectively stopping the taller boy in his place, with Firewall still perched on his head.

“You were acting weird when we entered the temple, was that what the guardian meant?” Ryouken grit his teeth, narrowing his eyes at the avatar of his sworn enemy blocking his way.

“None of your business, and that’s long over. We should focus on the next room instead.” Once again, he underestimates how stubborn the teenager standing in front of him could be. Playmaker stood his ground, grip on Ryouken unrelenting.

“We’re not running on a time limit, so I’m not moving, and neither are you. Not until you tell me.”

“You’re being annoying, _Playmaker_.” 

“And _you’re_ being defensive, Revolver.” Playmaker’s eyes soften for the slightest moment, and he tugs on Ryouken’s hand, whispering. “Tell me.” Ryouken sighs.

“Why is it so important that you know?” For a moment, the other boy falters, green eyes wavering before pulling himself together, reaching out with his other hand to grasp at Ryouken’s unoccupied hand. He allows the action.

“…I once said that I’m the only one who could save you, and you’re the only one who could save me. So,” He takes a deep breath, “I want to help you, when you’re feeling lost or scared, or threatened.”

“Whether I’m scared or angry, that’s none of your business. Nothing scares or angers me more than the Ignises, some of which you and your friends seem so determined to protect. Unless you’re surrendering the Ignises of Darkness and Fire to me, I have no need for your help.” Thorns lace his words, and Ryouken _hurts_ as he lays them out calmly. He wonders if he’s ever capable of anything other than hurting the one person he wants so badly to treasure. Perhaps that’s a dream, a wish, a reality for another life – one that he and Yuusaku could be happy together without the guillotine that is their pasts hanging above their heads.

Playmaker merely stares at him, unwavering. Ryouken watches as presses his lips together, nodding, eyes unreadable. His adversary lets go of one of his hands, steps back to his side, and continues to walk towards the next room. Ryouken follows suit in silence. This is fine, cold stone walls and antagonism are what suit them best. 

From the top of Playmaker’s head, Firewall Dragon glances at him, swerving its tail to meet the side of his vizor with a “thud”. Ryouken takes the gaze to be a dirty look and ignores the Cyberse. The other boy remains silent throughout this exchange, not even acknowledging the actions of his ace monster.

It is in heavy silence that they step into the following room, identical to the one before. This time, they are both prepared for the voice that descends upon them.

_Greetings, those who seek to regain what was lost._

“Just… get on with it.” He bit out, directing his glare at the exit in front of him – one more room after this and he and Playmaker can go on their own merry ways. The guardian chuckles, obviously amused by the tense air between them. 

_Very well. A question for you, Kougami Ryouken: Truth, or ideals?_

“Truth. I have no time for the idealistic thinking of foolish individuals who do not understand the concept of reality and live in their baseless construction of the world.” A low jab, and it’s obvious from Playmaker’s nails digging into the back of his hands that the younger boy had understood the reference. 

 _That is correct, Kougami Ryouken. You may both proceed._ He doesn’t wait for the lights to dim down this time, making a straight line for the exit. Playmaker follows his lead, painful grip never relenting. He wonders about the thoughts that are currently run through Playmaker’s mind – for the first time since their reunion, Ryouken can’t get a good grasp on the other boy at all. A part of him worries that he might have forever killed his chances of having them reconciliating, before berating himself for thinking that way. This is what he wanted, to drive Yuusaku as far away from him as he could.

Unfortunately, it is now the only way for Ryouken to protect Yuusaku. While he had never wanted the boy whom he had saved as a child and his antithesis to be the same person, he has accepted this reality much more readily than Yuusaku had.

If his precious prisoner of destiny wouldn’t step away willingly, Ryouken would simply have to make him. 

They continued down the short, curved hallway in silence, Playmaker never once turning his attention towards Ryouken, stepping right into the next room when they arrive. Unlike the previous rooms, there is no other exit. It will probably open after he answers the last question.

 _We the last guardian welcome you to the last stage, Kougami Ryouken, Fujiki Yuusaku._ Ryouken is about to snap at the voice to simply skip to the question, getting cut off instead.

 _Before we proceed with the question, we have to explain the rules. For this last question, both of you will have to offer an answer to the same question. You can decide who goes first but will both have to be truthful in order to clear the stage._ Playmaker tenses at the sudden demand.

_Therefore, the question for both of you is: What is the one important thing you want to tell each other? Once again, think carefully – you only have one chance each, and being the slightest untruthful would mean failure._

This takes Ryouken aback, for it was entirely different from the previous two questions. The silence between them becomes less tense and more awkward, but Playmaker still refuses to look at him.

What does he want to tell Yuusaku? So, so much – how Yuusaku should not trust the Ignis, how he should stay away from Ryouken because Ryouken is dangerous for him, how he should leave the war and never turn back and live his life to the fullest, how he wants Yuusaku so much but can never have him, how he cares, how he wants Yuusaku to choose him instead.

All of these are truths in Ryouken’s heart, but he can only tell Yuusaku one thing. Being kind would mean failure to drive Yuusaku away, however, Ryouken’s heart is full of concern for Yuusaku despite all his coldness.

Whatever the answer to this question is, Ryouken knows it’s too early for him to say them. For Yuusaku to know them. He had wanted to save them for when he had successfully eradicated all the Ignises, when Ryouken can allow himself to treasure Yuusaku without being torn apart by his inherited duty.

He could also lie, but should the guardians catch it, that means he’ll never get Topologic Trisbaena back, and Yuusaku would still realise that his words up until now are lies. While he does not like Cyberse solely on principle, as a duelist, all of his monsters are important to him and he will never forgive himself for losing Trisbaena forever.

“… I’ll go first.” Mind made up, he turns to look at Playmaker, who finally tilts his head to face him in surprise. Lacing both of their hands together, he closes his eyes, takes a deep breath – it’ll only be a moment.

“Playmaker, you shouldn’t trust me in anyway because I’ll only hurt you.” An obvious observation and conclusion, given the nature of their acrid relationship. With any luck, Yuusaku wouldn’t catch the underlying meaning behind his words.

Playmaker stares at him – a look similar to the one he’d given him previously – and slowly smiles. Ryouken recognises that smile, seeing the ghost of his mistake in the form of a beaming young Yuusaku. It’s the smile of an angel that made Ryouken feel like he could be forgiven for all his sins and made him feel safe around Yuusaku. Having a tiny Firewall Dragon on his head to complete the look, he gives off the perfect picture of innocence. He doesn’t breathe, waiting for Yuusaku’s reply, feeling like someone awaiting judgment.

“Revolver, you’re kinder than you give yourself credit for, and I’ll always trust you.” Joy and grievance tear him apart – Yuusaku’s trust is everything he never dared to wish for and everything he dreads. Before he could open his mouth to berate the other for being foolish, the voice cuts in, the floor lightning up to extend the ray of light into a rectangular shape on the wall opposite the entrance they’d walked through.

_Both of you are correct. You will find what you seek past the next hallway, back where you started._

Pieces start clicking in Ryouken’s mind, and the shapes of the hallway start to make sense in his mental map.

“This place is shaped like a torus, Trisbaena has been in front of us this whole time.” Playmaker’s eyes widen as he realises the implication of that.

“The first room, the one with that trefoil knot, that’s where your card is!” The shriek of Ryouken’s monster captures both their attention. Sharing a look, they both started for the next passageway, sprinting back to the first room.

Greeting him is the valiant form of Topologic Trisbaena, its wing-like appendages glowing green with the powers of the Cyberse. The darkness that had previously covered the top of the room is now gone, showing a tall, intricately coloured stained-glass ceiling, made up of tiny glass shards of blue, yellow and red pieced together. Sunlight dances through it, adorning the high circular walls with patterns of different colours. Trisbaena roars in acknowledgement when it spots Ryouken running in, and he stops to admire the beauty of the symmetry that his monster possesses under the soft colours.

“Revolver.” Playmaker’s voice snaps him out of his stupor, and he looks back at his companion, who now has Firewall Dragon flying beside him once again – it seems like bathing in the sunlight did the monster some good. The other duelist reaches out with a black-clad hand to push lightly at his shoulder, nodding. Ryouken smiles, turning to face Trisbaena again. It’s strange how he’s never realised that he has missed his monsters up until this moment.

Stepping forward, he holds out a hand towards the Cyberse monster, which reciprocates the action by placing its claw-like appendage in his offered hand. From this angle, he sees his body start to dissolve like the night previous, and he doesn’t have to turn behind to know Playmaker’s currently undergoing the same process of their consciousness returning to their actual bodies.

“Revolver.”

“Hm?”

“I’ll see you later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, and he _will_. Second day is gonna be fu~n. The task portions have been short so far, but a good, long one is coming up soon! 
> 
> And yes, PM had chibi Firewall on his head for most of the second part of the chapter - imagine how cute that is.
> 
> Guess which was my favourite part to write? 
> 
> Fun trivia that I didn't manage to include: The ceiling is a reference to the three-colour problem, which is the idea that some maps (under certain conditions) can be coloured with only three colours and still have no adjacent colours be the same. It has not been proven to my knowledge. (I wanted to refer to the four-colour problem, which I did do research on back in HS, but the number three was more applicable). ~~Forgive my crappy explanation please~~
> 
> Some useless updates on my life: Greece was a good place for photos and mythology. Not too fun for everything else between getting scammed and pick-pocketed and getting things stolen *shrugs*. I also played navigator and babysitter so that was a fun grad trip lmao. 
> 
> Good news: I've successfully graduated, and also got an offer from a pretty good grad school in London, UK. If everything goes well, I'll be starting school again in September. YES. Pray for me please I really need to go to grad school for my dream job :). 
> 
> Once again, Kudos/Comments appreciated!


	5. (ch. 3.5) second day (side: yuusaku ft. ryouken)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryouken and Yuusaku get ~~awkwardly~~ domestic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M ALIVE. The past three months have been... eventful, to say the least. (Hope your Summers were better!!) This chapter fought me hard, it was supposed to be half its length before these two decided to be... well. You'll see. Enjoy. 
> 
> Good news though: I got accepted into the school I wanted, and I start my course next week. So, I'm in London now. I love this place. To death. Ridiculous politics aside. (And I sound so North American it's... disturbing. The English accents do sound great, though.)
> 
> More ramblings at the end! (there's a tl;dr)

_(side: Ryouken)_

He’s dreading to get out of bed. Ryouken groans the moment he opens his eyes, and the events of what had happened flood in. When this is all over, he’s going to track down whoever’s doing this, and sic Barreload on them and their server and reduce both into ashes, laying low and being on the run be damned.

Logic and decorum dictate that as the host, he should be getting out of bed and greeting his guest - if said guest was awake, Ryouken couldn’t really tell with the soundproofing of the rooms - and actually looking presentable. After last night, however –

He groans again, throwing an arm over his eyes, lips pressed into a thin line, cursing whatever had possessed him to do whatever he’d done last night. It had been the atmosphere, a situation where it’s become he and Yuusaku - Playmaker against the world, and it’s all of his wildest dreams come true. A chance for them to work together, and Ryouken being able to protect Yuusaku when required, Yuusaku watching his back. 

So Playmaker’s speech during the whole Tower of Hanoi fiasco did get through to him after all. As Revolver and Kougami Ryouken, the idea of working together with Playmaker makes him scoff, his beliefs not allowing him to relent in acknowledging Playmaker as an ally. As only Ryouken though, he craves and wishes and aches for Fujiki Yuusaku’s companionship. It seems that these... shared dreams of theirs had unleashed everything Ryouken had kept a tight leash on and buried deep in his consciousness. 

He’s not ready to face Yuusaku. Ryouken glares at the alarm clock on the night-table, before turning to frown contemplatively at the screen covering the window. Finally, he lets out a breath of air, turning his body back to face the room, tugging his pillow closer. 

Fujiki Yuusaku could wait until Ryouken was done wallowing in his own misery.

Ryouken does so by glaring at the wall of his room, thinking of how he’d spent the last three months trying hard to not think about Fujiki Yuusaku after the disaster at the Tower of Hanoi. The boy behind Playmaker’s avatar had never left Ryouken’s mind over the past ten years, appearing in shadows, angelic and with his bell-like chime of a smile in Ryouken’s waking hours, and demons with dull emerald eyes that haunted his dreams, words of blame falling from pale lips. He spent hours and days, whenever there was nothing pressing for him to attend to, wondering if the boy that he’d met, that he had helped bring into that living hell, was doing okay, if his smile was still as bright, and if he’d finally gone home safely.

When Playmaker had dropped his three reason mantra during their first master duel, Ryouken could swear his heart had lurched so hard in his chest, he’d felt it even amongst the neural pain of getting his arm bitten off by that infuriating Ignis, even beyond the fact that his body is unconscious.

There had been a kind of joy that bordered on madness and obsession, that boy that had made a permanent home in Ryouken’s thoughts for the past ten years was finally standing in front of him. For the slightest while, he could admit that pursuing the Ignis became a secondary goal, all of his attention directed at the person behind the avatar of the vigilante.

Kyouko and the others had noticed, and were kind enough to not confront him with it for a while, even if Spectre had been begrudging at best. They had paid for Ryouken’s obsession in the end, of course, and while he was apologetic, he could not bring himself to feel regret for being engrossed with Playmaker as he had.

He can’t bring himself to do so even now.

Ryouken bites back another groan, scrunching his eyes shut – wishing he could curse the very existence of Fujiki Yuusaku, but finding himself unable to hold any kind of true ill will towards the younger boy. He’s long come to terms with himself that his feelings towards his fellow prisoner of destiny are far from that of hate or even the slightest dislike. Frustration, certainly, because the Ignis remains the sole colossal problem between them, and it is also the one thing they couldn’t find a common ground on (wouldn’t their lives be so much easier otherwise), and the occasional exasperation at Yuusaku’s willingness to trust him easily.

No, what he feels rumbling, echoing through every nook and cranny of his being since the moment Ryouken had first formed his suspicion, is far from hatred. It’s threatening, so Ryouken had taken all those feelings and locked them in a box the moment his three trusted allies fell, and had buried them further at his father’s deathbed, choosing to force Playmaker to back down instead.

 _“I wouldn’t have minded, had that been the end.”_ Playmaker’s voice plays in his head, loud and clear, and bitterness gnaws at his being. How ironic. Ryouken had been all but ready to end both their lives at the Tower of Hanoi, a queer mixture of possessiveness and longing plaguing his being as he dished out his greatest attacks and rallied his greatest dragons against Playmaker’s Cyberse. He had wanted to leave this world with no one else other than Fujiki Yuusaku, both of them burning along with humanity’s greatest advancements. Yuusaku hadn’t been innocent, his brain had supplied at that time, because he had helped harbour the Ignis despite his repeated warnings of the threat they pose against humanity.

And Yuusaku had talked him out of it, with emotions so intense and eyes so bright Ryouken felt like he had been thrown back to their foredoomed meeting ten years ago in that red twilight.

He had been angry, but a part of him had been ecstatic. Playmaker had sounded so frank and willing that Ryouken’s control had slipped. _Fujiki Yuusaku’s willing to die with me_ , and wasn’t that Ryouken had wanted so bad back then? For the both of to leave this world together, Ryouken’s mission fulfilled and Yuusaku there, with him.

The thought terrifies him now, however, because he’d spent the last three months cooling down, trying to not stalk Playmaker unnecessarily, and thinking through his adversary’s words.

Maybe, just maybe, there’s merit in them after all. He had… enjoyed the adventures of the past two nights, with Playmaker by his side. If this kind of cooperation is what Playmaker meant, Ryouken honestly can’t bring himself to mind too much.

Too bad there are those accursed Ignises to think about, Ryouken glares harder at the wall, imagining ripping the Ignises of Light and Wind apart.

His duel disk beeps on his bedside table – it’s from Spectre, Ryouken sighs, resigning himself to some teasing from his trusted aide. Reaching out, he brings up the screen of his duel disk and feeling his mouth twitch upon seeing the message preview.

 _How are things coming along? ;)_ He’d given a brief update to Spectre, who had known about his meeting with Playmaker, yesterday, on his disappearing cards, leaving out the element of weird shared dreams, and told him and his three generals to continue tracking the Ignises while he and Playmaker settled some… issues together. It seems like his childhood companion had chosen to focus on the part where he’s _together_ with Playmaker, instead of the _issues_. He should take this as a sign of Spectre’s confidence in his – their – abilities to solve whatever pressing issue at hand, but that doesn’t stop Ryouken’s annoyance and embarrassment from the teasing. 

 _We’re doing fine. Thanks._ No need to give his friend any more ammunition. Spectre’s reply came almost immediately, and Ryouken wonders if he should be concerned that Spectre’s more interested in his non-existent love life with Playmaker than tracking down the Ignises.

 _Oh? What’s it like living with Playmaker?_ His face feels warm as he reads Spectre’s message, and he makes a note to assign Spectre more work when he returns. 

 _We didn’t talk last night._ He pauses, _And there’s nothing between us._

 _If you say so ;) ;)._ Ryouken sniffs, and refuses to entertain Spectre’s wild accusations any further, not even going to bother bringing up Zaizen, lest it backfires on him. There’s a certain pattern of that happening whenever he tries to fire back, and Ryouken’s long learned to pick his battles carefully. He puts down the device and returns to glaring at the ceiling, hands folded behind his head. 

It was noon before Ryouken finally found his courage and energy to roll out of bed, his sleep - thankfully free from all the weird dreams that haunted him and his companion. His feet feel like lead as he drags himself out of his room, eyes naturally drawn towards the door leading to Yuusaku’s room, only to frown at it.

Said door remains shut, and Ryouken couldn’t hear any kind activity in the other parts of the mansion. Is Yuusaku not out of bed?

He hesitates, taking a step towards the other door, hand raised and poised to knock on it. It wavers, Ryouken’s frown deepens, lips pressed into a straight line, before the door swings open and he’s left staring into mesmerising wide emeralds.

_(side: Yuusaku)_

The bed that he wakes up in is comfortable. Yuusaku buries his head into soft pillows, feeling oddly content and at peace, the sound of ocean waves rolling –

Wait. 

Lifting his head up in record time, he looks around with wide eyes, mind in a state of semi-panic as he realizes that _this isn’t his apartment_.

Revolver had offered for Yuusaku to stay at his mansion until they resolve whatever trouble they had found themselves in, for ease of regrouping. This also means that Yuusaku had spent the night in the guest room of the mansion – the only one, his adversary had told him, not occupied by any of the three scientists or Spectre – with Revolver under the same roof.

The feelings that this evokes in Yuusaku are weird, butterflies dancing in his stomach, He recalls the sensation of Revolver’s shoulder on the train ride to the mansion, warm and protective, and how embarrassed he had felt when he realized he’d fallen asleep on the older teen. How he had refused to acknowledge the other’s presence beyond the bare minimum of what is required to be polite for a houseguest thereafter.

And then… and then he had taken a shower, got changed and fell asleep immediately after hitting the pillows.

Despite all that he had gone through in the odd dream rendition yesterday, he feels strangely refreshed. There had been no ghosts of the past chasing him down in his dreams, and no nightmares of painful electric shocks.

There was only Revolver, and their quest… and Revolver’s words – 

His cheeks heat up as the close-up image of Revolver’s face floods his memories, lavender-coloured eyes dark beyond the cover of his visor, whispering his warning for Yuusaku, voice dark. There had been something else as well, but Yuusaku had been too busy focusing on the close contact to be able to pinpoint just what was off about his rival. His head had been filled with error messages the moment his companion growled and pinned him against the wall, torn between flashing error warnings and commands that almost demanded him to open his mouth to ask for more, to his embarrassed chagrin. 

Thankfully, some sensible part of him had been able to hold both parts in check. But that certain encounter had been weird and confusing all the same.  

Right now, he is sure of three things. First, Link VRAINS is pretty much irrelevant to whatever’s happening, despite the both of them spawning in their avatars. Yuusaku had left Ai, his deck, and his duel disk in his house, only bringing his affected Cyberse cards along – same predicament aside, there’s no way he’s going to live with the leader of Hanoi with his Cyberse deck and Ai right in constant view of his adversary. He had also left short message to Kusanagi-san explaining that he had to deal with certain matters and will be uncontactable via Ai for the time being. It will attract a lot of questions – for which Yuusaku definitely does not have the answers to – when he actually returns, but he had told Kusanagi-san and Takeru to direct any questions to Ai (after convincing him to leave out Revolver’s involvement under the threat of deletion), who could probably hold them off until Yuusaku returns. While they had a vague idea of this before, they could now confirm that if anything else, at least their duel disks haven’t been compromised.

Second, Revolver is stubbornly adamant about his lack of goodness – for which Yuusaku digresses, but he’ll agree to disagree for the time being.

Third, he’s not going to make it to the end if all the nights were as intense as the last. Having Revolver’s constant touch – and being able to hold his hand – is definitely Yuusaku’s dream come true. Playmaker is brave and forward, his avatar is a skin that he wears, shielding him from the fear and terror and the pain that comes with it. However, Yuusaku doesn’t think he can look at Kougami Ryouken’s face and not remember the events of yesternight or not feel the weird lurches of his stomach.

The older male confuses him – warning him to not mistake… whatever their current situation is for something else, not wanting them to get separated, going as far as to protect him, before dismissing Yuusaku’s wishes and point of view harshly, then being kind to him again. The other was giving out signals so mixed it was making Yuusaku’s head hurt, not used to the complicated human psyche in general. He runs a hand down his face, heaving a sigh, before planting his face back into the expensive-feeling pillows, reluctant to actually get up and start his day, knowing that the source of his problems – in more ways than what he’s currently worried about – probably stood beyond the door.

With any luck, he could probably get away with staying in bed the whole day, and maybe not see Revolver at all. He buries his face deeper into the softness of the pillows, before deciding to do exactly that. The bed was comfortable, and even the fact that he’s staying in his ex-enemies’ dwelling didn’t deter him from getting his much-needed rest. His usually light sleeping habits don’t seem to apply here, something in him whispers that it’s because Ryouken is on the other side of the door, and that’s more than enough.

The next time he opens his eyes, the alarm clock reads a traitorous twelve noon in red. He stares at them in surprise – never in his life, from what he can remember, has he ever slept for so long. Nightmares and flashbacks are often motivation enough for Yuusaku to not sleep more than what is absolutely necessary. This is, well, new.

Feeling more well-rested than before – which still strikes him as odd – Yuusaku slowly makes his way out of bed, and peeks out at the scenery of Stardust Road at noon from the slit of the thick curtain. 

It’s a view that Yuusaku has seen multiple times from the scenic path that lined the ocean, but seeing it top-down from the Kougami mansion makes the blue waters look almost infinite, without the gravel and stones in his vision. It’ll probably look breath-taking from here at night, with or without the bioluminescence lighting up the area.

Breathing out gently, he brings the curtain back down, and turns to make his way out of the room. He’s spent enough time in bed that he truthfully doesn’t want to have to be in it for the next ten hours at least.

 _I wonder what he’s up to._ Yuusaku thinks as he turns the knob to open the door – only to nearly bump into the very person occupying his thoughts.

Kougami Ryouken stares back at him, ice-blue eyes wide and devoid of his usual cold sharpness, a hand poised forward.

He’s also in his pyjamas. A set coloured in beige and lined with a soft chestnut brown at the edges.

What got to Yuusaku, however, was his hair, tussled with white and blue strands flying in every direction. Against his will, he feels his mouth tilt upwards at the person standing in front of him, looking the furthest from his usual dignified self, and galaxies apart from both Revolver avatars, the first with fluid grace and the second a feral confidence.

A breath of air that might be a laugh escapes him. The subject of said laughter seems to have collected himself, and realised he was being laughed at.

“Stop laughing.” The growl only makes Yuusaku choke on his subsequent breaths, and he has to cough into his fist to stop. Ryouken is getting extremely prissy, and while Yuusaku isn’t afraid of him – he’s never been afraid of Revolver, and Ryouken couldn’t even scare a child in this state – it’s probably rude to piss off one’s host, and Yuusaku honestly has no intention of angering Ryouken.

“Sorry about that. It’s just… you look a little lost standing there.” Ryouken gives him the evil side-eye as he huffs and turns to walk away, a silent sign for Yuusaku to follow him. He leads Yuusaku down to the kitchen, which is connected to a bathroom – the same one that Yuusaku had used last night, before nodding at it.

“Feel free to use it first. I’ll… get something started for break – lunch.” Ryouken trails off, frowning, before turning to the kitchen, then back to staring at Yuusaku, the crease between his forehead deepening. Yuusaku blinks at the taller boy as the other’s stare seem to intensify, he tilts his head slightly. 

“What?” 

“… The fridge is empty.” Which makes sense, considering the other and his trusted sidekicks have been on the run from authorities ever since the Tower of Hanoi incident.

“We could just order takeout.” Yuusaku’s definitely not the kind to cook, choosing to live off of Kusanagi’s hotdogs and fast food. He’d pick takeout over his own cooking any day.

Ryouken glares harder at him – if it’s physically possible, but Yuusaku supposed the other was trying to project the image of dissatisfaction – lips pressed into a thin line. 

“You can’t live off takeout and hotdogs every day. Even if you are awful at cooking.” The white-haired boy snaps, and both of their eyes widen as the implications of Ryouken’s words. Yuusaku opens his mouth to defend himself, heart racing as he thinks about Ryouken’s words, but nothing comes out, and Ryouken seems to have returned to gaping (that’s twice today, now) – before giving Yuusaku the most dignified version of sputtering he’s ever seen. Then again, his other subjects were Shima, Ai and Takeru, none of whom had the inborn grace that Ryouken seems to possess.

“I, um,” Ryouken winces, “I mean… We did say we were monitoring all the Lost Incident victims.” He doesn’t meet Yuusaku’s eyes, and the curious excitement in Yuusaku’s chest plummets at those words.

“I… see.” He manages cordially, “So… we could go get some groceries? I still can’t cook though.” Ryouken picks up on the out Yuusaku offers, and heaves a sigh in what looks like relief.

“I can, we just have to make our way to the supermarket to get some. Whatever strange events are happening to us seem to be limited to only our sleep at night. We have time to do other things in the day.” Makes sense, so Yuusaku nods, and Ryouken turns to walk back upstairs, presumably to the other bathroom in this mansion.

“I’ll meet you in the hallway when you’re ready.” Again, not giving Yuusaku a chance to reply, he disappears up the stairs, leaving the younger boy to ponder on his slip of the tongue.

He’s known for quite some time that the Knights of Hanoi keeps track of all six victims, but Yuusaku had always liked to think himself as just the slightest bit special to his special person. Ryouken had managed to install a backdoor to the cameras in his home system – which isn’t a surprise to Yuusaku, considering how old it is even with Yuusaku’s added security features – covering everything except his VR room – again, not a surprise since that’s the only place that Yuusaku had made sure was impenetrable. Yuusaku himself had only discovered this when he’s on one of his occasional system examination, with Ai by his side.

“Eh? What’s this?” Ai had poked and nudged at the coding, while Yuusaku had been stunned, wide eyes running over lines and lines of code that screamed familiarity, now that he finally knows who Revolver actually is.

“I see Revolver-chan has become a creepy stalker, well, _more_ of a creepy stalker. Yuusaku-chan! He’s invading your privacy! Who knows what kind of things he’s seen! And what kind of things he’s doing while watching you!” Yuusaku had flushed red at Ai’s insinuations – he might not be interested in whatever boys his age are, but he is a hacker, and the internet is a dark place – a dash of embarrassment, but mostly anger.

“Shut up,” He had growled at Ai, giving him the sharpest glare possible, “Don’t lump Revolver together with the likes of you.” Ai had moaned dramatically, tiny hand on his forehead.

“Oh no, Yuusaku-chan has been completely caught in Revolver-chan’s web! We have to protect his innocence! Yuusaku-chan! You have to delete this!” 

“No.” He hadn’t even have to think of the answer. The Knights were no longer much of a threat, and Yuusaku no longer felt any kind of fear that they would find him. After all, Revolver knows who he is. The likelihood of them using Yuusaku’s identity as a bargaining chip with SOL was also unlikely, considering how much Ryouken despises the corporation. Besides, Yuusaku always makes sure to never leave any kind of clue behind.

This backdoor had been his only tie to Revolver ever since the other had ran away on his yacht since their duel, never looking back once. Its existence reminded Yuusaku that his special person was real and not something his brain cooked up in a desperate attempt to stay sane during his period of captivity. Yuusaku didn’t care that Revolver could probably watch his every move, all he wanted was to remember the older boy, and for Revolver to remember him too. Therefore, the backdoor was not going to go, and Revolver can hack whatever cameras he wanted.

He had even added a layer of admin protection, just so that Ai couldn’t hack into the system to remove it. The Ignis had almost screamed in frustration, before deciding it wasn’t worth fighting Yuusaku on this matter, choosing to return to his duel disk, grumbling about obsessed hackers and origins and some long overdue sexual tension, which Yuusaku ignored.

So, Yuusaku might just be the slightest bit down upon finding out that perhaps the Hanoi had installed similar backdoors for every origin child. He glares at his reflection in the mirror, unsure of why his chest is just the slightest bit tight, before deciding to forget it, reaching for his toothbrush.

 

* * *

 

True to his word, Ryouken is waiting for him upon Yuusaku’s entry into the hallway. Yuusaku had changed into the extra set of uniform that he’d brought along to the Kougami residence, old coat hanging on his left arm. The white-haired male – his hair is back to normal – is leaning against the wall and glaring at his duel disk as if it had personally offended him – if it had an AI, it’s probably because it’s too rigid and slow, something Yuusaku could relate to after seeing Shima’s AI. Dressed in a form-fitting long black coat over a white cosy-looking knitted turtleneck and dark blue jeans, Ryouken looks like a model on one of those large advertisements downtown. Yuusaku realises, not for the first time, how good his sworn enemy and special person looks. Said special person looks up at hearing Yuusaku’s footsteps, and sighs.

“I really should take you clothes shopping.” Yuusaku stares at him, bewildered, unsure of how to reply, while Ryouken winces again and shakes his head.

“Never mind. You really don’t own anything other than your pyjamas and uniform, do you?” Yuusaku was about to snipe at the other boy for that comment, before realising that he really can’t, since even Kusanagi had commented to Yuusaku that he should buy more clothes that are not his uniform – there’s enough money to, Yuusaku never spends whatever allowance the government offers him, and his living and school fees are already covered anyway. 

He just never felt like it – there was no need to indulge in the delusion of being even the slightest bit like a normal teenager when Yuusaku has known for his whole life that he’s anything but.

So he merely shrugs in return, and Ryouken sighs – turning to slip into his feet into leather shoes – placed beside Yuusaku’s own slightly battered but still well-maintained school loafers. Yuusaku follows his lead, and out onto the path down the hill, slipping on his coat as he goes.

Despite the sun shining down on the earth, the winter season is well under way, which means that the temperature’s definitely cooler than what the existence of the sun makes it seem. This is especially so for Stardust Road, being beside the ocean, the windchill lowers the temperature of their surroundings further. Yuusaku shivers as they reach the path beside the ocean, shoving his hands into his pockets, walking a few steps behind Ryouken, who has set a leisure pace with his hands tucked in his coat pocket. Both of them stay silent.

It’s so different from what had happened in the maze yesternight, without the sound of the ocean, the addition of the cold, and Ryouken walking in front of him instead of Revolver beside him holding his hand. Even in a virtual environment, Yuusaku had felt the slightest warmth from the other’s hands, kept at a moderate temperature thanks to their gloves, their grip firm and tight.

Don’t let go, huh. Yuusaku silently wishes that he has as much courage as Playmaker did in their dreams yesterday, right now. The urge to hold Ryouken’s hand is strong, but it’s also obvious that the other would react badly if Yuusaku did anything. It is a little unfair, he supposes, that Revolver could initiate something that Playmaker probably wouldn’t object, while if Yuusaku did anything, Ryouken would most likely be startled.

He stays silent instead, staring at Ryouken’s back, memorising every line of his special person, as they make their way to the train station.

The train isn’t crowded at all in this direction, since no one else lives in the vicinity and the usual popular tourist spot is less crowded this time of the year. Being this far away from downtown, the trains on this line are the old-school ones with manual door controls and radio announcements, but still clean and well-maintained, even if the cabins look old – given how much Ryouken hates AIs, Yuusaku thinks he probably doesn’t mind the state of his mode of transportation. 

“Do you take the train every time you go out?” Yuusaku asks, when Ryouken settles down in the seat beside him. The taller male turns to look at him with a slightly surprised look, pale blue eyes bright under the light.

“No, I do have a car, and a licence.” He offers up a small smirk, one end of his lips tilting upwards, eyes narrowing, and Yuusaku’s heart leaps again. “I don’t drive it much, however. One, because I like the train much better, two, because the public transport in this area of Den City doesn’t utilise AI much,” _there it is_ , “and three, although my car isn’t AI controlled, that doesn’t mean the places I drive to aren’t.” 

“… Come to think of it, how did you get your licence if you hate interacting with AIs so much?” Yuusaku’s heart speeds up when Ryouken raises an eyebrow, cocky smile still in place.

“Kyouko and Asou – Baira and Faust – taught me how to drive, I hacked the system the moment I turned eighteen, creating a record of non-existent credits for driving lessons, and subsequently, results for driving tests.” He shrugged, “It wasn’t difficult to do.” And Yuusaku agreed with him. In terms of cyber security, government agencies and institutions did meagrely well at best against hackers of Ryouken and Yuusaku’s calibre. Yuusaku suspects that if any of the Ignises put their mind to it, they could all break through those systems with no issues. The only reason why Lightning hadn’t done it in his plan to dominate humaninty is probably because Hanoi is actively tracking him, and would attack the moment he comes out of hiding.

“I see.”

“It’s partially due to my dislike of AIs, and also because of my current status. It’s still easy to track licence plates, and I’m not fond of changing them often.” Cyber terrorist, right.

He briefly wonders what would happen to Ryouken when everything is over – when Lightning is defeated and maybe the two of them could finally come to a consensus on the issue of Ignises and AIs. Not wanting to know the answer, he stays silent instead. Ryouken seems to realise that he no longer has any questions, and doesn’t speak again until they reach their stop. 

The supermarket that Ryouken brings him to is bigger than the ones located downtown, a building of its own instead of occupying half a floor in a departmental store. It’s one of those famous chain supermarkets from overseas that opened in Japan, something Shima might have mentioned in one of his rants once. His companion grabs a shopping basket upon entering the store, finally turning his attention to Yuusaku again.

“Was there anything you wanted to eat?” Yuusaku pauses, unsure of how to reply – he’s gone almost all his life living off junk food, and from what he sees, there doesn’t seem to be any around. The older boy notices, pressing his lips into a thin line, looking up at the ceiling, before finally sighing.

“I’ll decide then, is there anything you don’t eat?” His shoulders slump in relief, and Yuusaku shakes his head no – his upbringing in the orphanage hadn’t exactly allowed him to be picky about his food, but he wasn’t about to bring that up to the person standing in front of him, his pride would never recover.

“…We’ll go with omelette rice for lunch and curry for dinner then. Does that sound good?”

“It does… thank you.” Ryouken gives him a strange look at that but doesn’t reply, turning on his heels to walk towards the vegetable section. He grabs a few onions, a small sack of potatoes and a packet of carrots while Yuusaku trails behind him, feeling like a lost duckling following its mother – the mental image makes him cringe, but it fits the bill – while he eyes the large variety of vegetables on sale, unable to recognise more than half of them on sight. He notices Ryouken grab a few greens – one of which he recognises as spinach – as well, and looks at him quizzically.

“Might as well buy groceries for the other days while we’re at it.” Ryouken chuckles, and Yuusaku’s heart skips a beat, “You did say you weren’t picky.” 

“I’ll let you decide then,” Ryouken nods, looking satisfied with Yuusaku’s answer. 

They spend the rest of the trip in a similar manner, Yuusaku following behind Ryouken while occasionally getting certain things according to his instructions. It’s… oddly domestic and leaves a warm feeling in Yuusaku’s chest.

“You’re oddly quiet today.” The white-haired boy remarks on the train ride back to the Stardust Road scenic area, bags placed on the floor, and Yuusaku, with a light heart, offers a hum of agreement, watching the bare trees go by. 

“I just think this whole arrangement isn’t as bad as I thought.” Ryouken’s surprisingly more accommodating and less aggressive than Yuusaku thought he’d be – but Yuusaku’s always known that his special person is kind at heart, no matter what Ryouken says otherwise – and Yuusaku is enjoying this… impromptu vacation from Ignis-hunting with the person he’s always wanted to know more about.

 “… It is more relaxing that I thought it’d be, I’ll give it that much credit.” Ryouken doesn’t offer more, and Yuusaku doesn’t push, eyes still on the window glass directly opposite their seats.

Hence, he misses the slight pinkish tint to Ryouken’s ears.

 

* * *

 

The moment they step into the Kougami mansion, the taller boy makes a beeline for the kitchen with the grocery bags. When Yuusaku had caught up to him, he had dug out the rice cooker and was folding up his sleeves, his duel disk placed carefully on the dining table and his coat gone from his person. Yuusaku frowns at the neatly folded coat left hanging on the back of a dining chair.

“… I’ll hang your coat up for you. It’s the small wardrobe at the entrance, yes?” Ryouken looks up from his folding, eyes going wide with surprise, fingers pausing in their folding. He stares at Yuusaku for a long time, long enough to make Yuusaku feel uncomfortable, tightening his hold around Ryouken’s coat, unsure why the older boy was staring at him in this manner, it’s just him helping Ryouken to hang his coat – he couldn’t decode the expression on Ryouken’s face at all. Perhaps he should say something? 

“… It is, thank you.” Mentally breathing out a sigh of relief, Yuusaku nods and makes his way back to the hallway. The coat is still slightly warm, and it smelled a little like Ryouken – Yuusaku vaguely wonders if the other wore cologne, which wouldn’t come as a surprise if he did, it fits him perfectly. Feeling slightly embarrassed, he shakes his head and quickens his pace towards the coat wardrobe, hanging the coat up briskly, patting and running his hand over the woollen fabric to smooth it down. Finally, after taking one last longing look at it, Yuusaku closes the door and makes his way back to the kitchen.

Ryouken has gotten the rice cooking, and is in the process of cutting up the root vegetables. Yuusaku lingers at the entrance, unsure of himself, before deciding to make his way to Ryouken’s side.

There’s effortless grace in Ryouken’s movements that reminds Yuusaku of Revolver during a duel, and he watches as Ryouken cuts the onion into neat strips. The only indicator that Ryouken has noticed him was a glance and nothing more, the older boy never stopping once.

“Is there anything I can help with?” Ryouken pauses in his cutting to look up at him, a tad reluctant.

“You’re the guest here, decorum dictates that you should be off relaxing.” A raised eyebrow, but Yuusaku doesn’t relent.

“Decorum also dictates that a guest should always help their host out a little.” Ryouken sighs, before nodding at the sack of potatoes, pulling out a drawer to reach for a peeler, which he passes to Yuusaku.

“Could you peel the potatoes, then? I want to get started on the curry since it takes time to make, we can make the omelette rice after the rice is done.”

“Sounds good,” Yuusaku takes the offered peeler, and starts washing the potatoes. Silence descends the kitchen again as the both of them work in tandem, Yuusaku passing the peeled potatoes – and later the carrots – to Ryouken to chop up. They fall into a comfortable kind of rhythm, and there’s that warm and fuzzy feeling within him again.

It’s nice, to not be able to worry about the fate of the world and potentially dangerous AIs, not be a wanted vigilante and cyber terrorist, and just enjoy doing things together. Kusanagi-san’s always mentioned the importance of doing that, but Yuusaku had never understood what he’d meant, having been focused on his revenge for his whole life until a few months ago. However, now he finds himself having fun and being genuinely happy that Ryouken’s here with him, even if they still have a problem to deal with. With the last of the carrots finally peeled and cut, he turns to look at Ryouken, who has placed the onions in a rather big pot, and is in the midst of adding a dash of oil. With sharp features and rather long eyelashes, Ryouken cuts a smart and good looking side profile even without his smug smirk or strong glare – Yuusaku knows that his adversary looks good up front, but this is an angle that he doesn’t get to see often, not to mention up close.   

“Is there something on my face?” Perhaps unsurprisingly, because he is the leader of a cyberterrorist organisation, Ryouken is especially sensitive to people staring at him. He throws out the question in an off-handed manner, eyes never leaving the pot as he adds the other vegetables in, along with a dash of salt. Yuusaku feels his face heat up, unsure why he _didn’t_ expect Ryouken to notice when he’s blatantly staring at him, when it’s probable that even a blind person could.

“No,” He begins, feeling the warmth in his face grow, the taller male not noticing as he pours boiling water from the kettle to the pot. “I… was just… watching.” You, he doesn’t say, mainly out of mortification.

“I doubt cooking curry is something you’d be interested in,” Ryouken chuckles, setting the kettle down, “Unless you plan on adding curry to your limited repertoire of hotdogs?” He finally turns to look at Yuusaku, a tiny smirk on his face which disappears the moment he sees the redness on Yuusaku’s cheeks. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I – yes,” Stumbling over his words, Yuusaku turns his attention to the pot, only for Ryouken to scowl, use the back of his hand to push Yuusaku’s face back to facing him, before leaning forward to press their foreheads together with a softly mumbled _excuse me_. Heart hammering in his chest, Yuusaku’s eyes go very wide, before he squeezed them shut, remembering how similar this is to what happened in their shared dreams last night.

“You don’t feel that warm up here, so it’s not a fever.” He could feel the white-haired male’s breath, up this close, Fervently praying that Ryouken couldn’t hear his wild mare of a heart, he pulls away as gently as possible, finally finding his voice again with great difficulty.

“I’m fine. It’s just…” There’s honestly no way to lie his way out of this, so Yuusaku settles for shrugging instead. The frown Ryouken gives him is reprimanding.

“You should go and rest, if you’re tired. I’ll call you when lunch is ready.” Grateful for the out, Yuusaku nods and makes his way back to his temporary room, heart still racing and feeling like he’d just ran away from something. He throws himself onto the bed, burying his face into the sheets.

No one has ever made him feel so oddly, and so much, before. While Yuusaku understands the concept of liking someone, it is yet another thing that he’s distanced himself from, having no time due to his search for the Knights of Hanoi and being wary of everyone around him. Kusanagi-san had been an exception back then, because he had understood. However, the hotdog vendor was like an older brother to him, and despite Ai’s initial insinuations when they first met, they do not hold any kind of romantic feelings for each other.

His special person, however, is a different case. Yuusaku had occasionally thought about how they’d meet each other again, how Yuusaku would save them like they’d once saved him, and what would happen after. They were the only person Yuusaku wants to spend time with unconditionally, and from what Yuusaku had observed based on his classmates’ interactions, that’s probably one of the closest thing to liking a person.

And that person – Yuusaku’s special someone, _Ryouken_ – is by his side right now. It’s not even a far throw to say they spend every single moment together, both awake and at night in their dreams. It’s honestly overwhelming, and it’s like he’s just been hit with a wave of emotions, so intense and different from the hate that he’s grown used to, that he doesn’t know what to do except endure the impact.

They really have to settle this problem and get their cards back, before Yuusaku loses his mind and drives Ryouken away from him permanently with his odd behaviour.

Because as much as it pains Yuusaku to admit, Ryouken doesn’t feel the same way as he does – he’s not stupid, all that running away from him is hint enough – and Yuusaku doesn’t want to burden Ryouken with… whatever’s brewing in him. He’s already taken his special person’s father away from him – and is currently trying to actively change one of his core beliefs. Honestly, Yuusaku’s surprised that Ryouken can still be this civil with him, and even care about him, despite his stubborn, relentless persuasion. It’s only right that Yuusaku doesn’t add to all the problems on his plate.

Somehow, this justification doesn’t make him feel any better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Before the serious stuff, lemme just say that Spectre is a little shit and I love him) 
> 
> Hello.
> 
> I’d just like to apologise for my inactivity over the Summer (on Ao3 and Discord). The last time I updated, I was in the midst of waiting for my graduate school decision. By the time I finished this chapter, I had been accepted to a grad school in London, got my visa approved and everything, and I actually finalised the details of this chapter (and wrote this note) while on the plane to London. So much thanks to everyone who has supported me!
> 
> A lot of things have happened over the Summer since June. One of my closest uni friendships ended in flames (like, Taylor Swift drama flames), then I decided that I need a change of pace in my life completely. I first made the decision to step away from fandoms for a while, and I’ve had the time to visit Japan once again, alone this time. It’s helped me relax quite a bit. At the same time, however, I’ve also come to realise that adulting is currently a very real issue. I’ll save the long(er) story for never and skip to the main point: 
> 
> Because I write extremely slowly, and because getting into postgrad means having to get my shit together, I’m going to focus on writing for now so that you guys can get updates, but I won’t be able to read or catch up with canon, or read others’ works, for a good, long time :( I have this story planned out and I’ll give myself hell if I don’t finish it. The deadline is set for Christmas this year (har, har haaaaa), and I already have 1/3 of the next chapter written (if these two don’t go off tangent again). While I’ll try to make it work, I make no guarantee. 
> 
> Everyone’s been so nice and helpful since I joined the fandom, and I love every single one of you. (If I don’t end up returning to shower praise on your works, please remember this.) Hopefully one day I’ll be able to get my shit together and have fun with everyone again, but until then, I will only come on occasionally, drop updates, and leave. (And maybe cave into my urges occasionally. Lmao.)
> 
> I’ll always love these two idiots to death. I’ll definitely watch VRAINS’ ending one day just to see if they become friends in the end. Come on, writers, YOU GUYS OWE US THAT MUCH.
> 
> I hope I’ll see everyone soon again! :) 
> 
> Shiro. 
> 
> tl;dr: I am a piece of crap with crappier self-control, and real life is biting me hard enough that I have to stop reading (only for a while hopefully) and get my shit together to fulfill my dreams. Updates for this story will still come though! 
> 
> Also, once again, I LOVE YOU GUYS.


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